Phase III Recurrent Glioblastoma Survival and
Quality of Life Data from the First Pivotal Study of the NovoTTF-100A
at the 15th Annual Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO) Scientific Meeting

MONTREAL, CANADA - November 19, 2010 - Data presented today from a pivotal, phase III randomized clinical trial for patients with recurrent glioblastoma tumors suggest that Tumor Treating Fields (TTF) therapy may increase median survival time and improve quality of life scores compared to best standard of care chemotherapy. Professor Zvi Ram, chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, presented the data at the Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO) Annual Scientific Meeting.

Physicians delivered the investigational TTF therapy to patients in the study using the NovoTTF-100A – a portable, non-invasive medical device. Investigators conducted this phase III study under an approved IDE at 28 centers in the US, Europe, and Israel, enrolling 237 patients with glioblastoma tumors that had recurred or progressed after initial treatment. Patients randomly received TTF therapy alone or an effective chemotherapy selected by physicians. The results reported today expand on headline data from the trial presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in June 2010, which suggested that TTF therapy may be as effective as the best available chemotherapy in extending overall survival of patients with recurrent GBM.

“The study suggests that patients treated with TTF therapy, as defined in the protocol, lived significantly longer than patients treated with the currently available best chemotherapeutic regimens,” said Professor Ram. “Interestingly, younger patients and patients with better functional status appear to have an impressive survival advantage. In these patients the incidence of radiological tumor response to TTF therapy was double that seen in patients treated with chemotherapy. Most importantly, in addition to the survival benefit, treatment with TTF therapy was associated with significantly better quality of life compared to patients receiving chemotherapy.”
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