Novocure and US Oncology Research Announce Collaboration on PANOVA-3 Trial for Patients with Advanced Pancreatic Cancer

Novocure (NASDAQ:NVCR) and US Oncology Research are collaborating on PANOVA-3, a phase 3 pivotal trial testing the efficacy of Tumor Treating Fields combined with nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine in patients with unresectable locally advanced pancreatic cancer.

As quoted in the press release:

“Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive forms of cancer and was the third leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. last year,” said Daniel D. Von Hoff, M.D., F.A.C.P., Principal Investigator for PANOVA-3, Physician in Chief, Distinguished Professor at the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix and the Chief Scientific Officer for US Oncology Research. “I believe Tumor Treating Fields has the potential to improve survival in this disease. I am pleased to have US Oncology Research’s support.”

PANOVA-3 is a randomized, open-label trial that will include 556 patients with unresectable locally advanced pancreatic cancer. Patients should have an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) score of 0-2 and no prior progression or treatment. Patients in the experimental arm will use a Tumor Treating Fields delivery system tuned to 150 kHz for at least 18 hours a day until the disease progresses. The primary trial endpoint is overall survival. The secondary endpoints include progression free survival, local progression free survival, objective response rate, one-year survival rate, quality of life, pain-free survival, resectability rate and toxicity.

Click here to read the full press release.