A type of electrical therapy called Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields), given in combination with chemotherapy and other medication, may help prevent disease progression in people with metastatic pancreatic cancer, according to data from a Phase 2 clinical trial.
“We are grateful to the patients, caregivers, and investigators whose dedication made this trial possible, and we look forward to evaluating the full results from [the trial] as we advance Tumor Treating Fields therapy as a treatment for metastatic pancreatic cancer,” Uri Weinberg, MD, PhD, chief medical and innovation officer at Novocure, which sponsored the trial, said in a company press release.
TTFields uses adhesive patches applied to a patient’s skin to deliver electrical stimulation designed to disrupt the molecular processes cancer cells need to divide, while leaving healthy cells essentially untouched. Novocure makes Optune Pax, a TTFields therapy that was recently approved in the U.S. to treat locally advanced pancreatic cancer — that is, pancreatic cancer that has begun to spread out of the pancreas to nearby tissues like lymph nodes, but has not yet fully metastasized or spread to other organs in the body.
The Phase 2 PANOVA-4 study (NCT06390059) enrolled approximately 80 adults with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the most common form of pancreatic cancer. All participants received TTFields therapy for a median duration of 5.8 months, in combination with a standard chemotherapy regimen (gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel) and atezolizumab, an immunotherapy approved under the name Tecentriq for several types of cancer but not specifically authorized for PDAC in the U.S.
Controlling disease, shrinking tumors
The main goal of PANOVA-4 was to assess how many patients had disease control — that is, at least no worsening of cancer burden — over at least four months of follow-up. Results showed nearly three-quarters (74.4%) of patients achieved disease control. Novocure noted that this rate is significantly higher than that seen in an earlier Phase 3 clinical trial, MPACT (NCT00844649), in which patients received the same chemotherapy regimen without TTFields or atezolizumab. In that study, less than half (48%) of patients achieved disease control.
Novocure also reported that roughly a third (34.6%) of patients in PANOVA-4 experienced an objective response, essentially meaning their tumors got smaller following treatment. The median overall survival time was 9.7 months. By comparison, in MPACT, the response rate and median survival time were 23% and 8.5 months, respectively.
The safety profile of TTFields therapy in PANOVA-4 was consistent with data from prior studies of the same type of cancer treatment, according to Novocure. The company said it will present in-depth findings from the Phase 2 study at a future medical meeting.
“The positive results from the PANOVA-4 trial further support the potential of Tumor Treating Fields to improve outcomes in pancreatic cancer,” Weinberg said.
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