Healthcare Industry News: National Comprehensive Cancer Network
News Release - July 26, 2016
NCCN Guidelines Recommend Optune as a Standard Treatment Option for Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma
ST. HELIER, Jersey--(Healthcare Sales & Marketing Network)--Novocure (NVCR) announced today that the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has recommended Optune as a standard treatment option for newly diagnosed glioblastoma (GBM) in its Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®) for Central Nervous System Cancers.NCCN panel members designated Optune together with temozolomide as a category 2A treatment for newly diagnosed GBM for patients with good performance status, indicating uniform consensus among panel members to add Optune to the guidelines for newly diagnosed GBM. Optune has been included in the NCCN Guidelines as a category 2B treatment option for recurrent GBM since 2015.
The recommendation follows the publication of Novocure’s EF-14 phase 3 pivotal trial data in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in December, 2015. The EF-14 phase 3 pivotal trial demonstrated that adding TTFields to maintenance temozolomide chemotherapy significantly prolonged progression-free and overall survival in newly diagnosed GBM.
“The NCCN Guidelines aim to assist patients, their families and their medical teams in making informed treatment-related decisions with the goal of optimal cancer care,” said Dr. Eilon Kirson, Chief Science Officer and Head of Research and Development at Novocure. “We believe the inclusion of Optune as a standard treatment option for newly diagnosed GBM serves as further validation of this noninvasive cancer therapy that has been shown to extend survival in newly diagnosed GBM.”
Physicians at more than 410 cancer centers in the U.S. – and at 600 medical institutions globally – have been certified to prescribe Optune to newly diagnosed and recurrent GBM patients.
“Physicians look to the NCCN Guidelines as the standard resource when determining the best course of treatment for patients,” said Pritesh Shah, Novocure’s Senior Vice President, Americas. “Optune’s inclusion as a recommended treatment for newly diagnosed GBM will help us to educate more physicians in the community setting, where newly diagnosed GBM patients are often treated. Increased physician awareness will help us to reach patients earlier in the course of this aggressive disease, which should translate to better outcomes.”
About National Comprehensive Cancer Network
NCCN is a not-for-profit alliance of 27 of the world's leading cancer centers devoted to patient care, research, and education, is dedicated to improving the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of cancer care so that patients can live better lives. Through the leadership and expertise of clinical professionals at NCCN Member Institutions, NCCN develops resources that present valuable information to the numerous stakeholders in the health care delivery system. As the arbiter of high-quality cancer care, NCCN promotes the importance of continuous quality improvement and recognizes the significance of creating clinical practice guidelines appropriate for use by patients, clinicians, and other health care decision-makers.
About Novocure
Novocure is a commercial-stage oncology company developing a novel, proprietary therapy called Tumor Treating Fields, or TTFields, for the treatment of solid tumor cancers. Headquartered in Jersey, Novocure has U.S. operations in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Malvern, Pennsylvania, and New York City. Additionally, the company has offices in Germany, Switzerland and Japan, and a research center in Haifa, Israel. For additional information about the company, please visit www.novocure.com or follow us at www.twitter.com/novocure.
Approved Indications
In the United States, Optune is intended as a treatment for adult patients (22 years of age or older) with histologically-confirmed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).
In the United States, Optune with temozolomide is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with newly diagnosed, supratentorial glioblastoma following maximal debulking surgery and completion of radiation therapy together with concomitant standard of care chemotherapy.
In the United States, for the treatment of recurrent GBM, Optune is indicated following histologically-or radiologically-confirmed recurrence in the supratentorial region of the brain after receiving chemotherapy. The device is intended to be used as a monotherapy, and is intended as an alternative to standard medical therapy for GBM after surgical and radiation options have been exhausted.
Source: Novocure
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