Novocure Ltd. announced that the first patient has enrolled in the EF-20 Study, an open label, pilot clinical trial of NovoTTF Therapy plus gemcitabine as first-line therapy for patients with locally advanced and metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma. NovoTTF Therapy is an anti-mitotic treatment delivered continuously with a wearable, home-use medical device. The EF-20 Study is an open-label study designed to test the feasibility, safety and preliminary efficacy of NovoTTF Therapy, frequency tuned to 150 kHz, together with gemcitabine for the first-line treatment of locally advanced and metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

The EF-20 Study is open for enrollment and will recruit 20 patients from centers in Spain, Germany and Switzerland. NovoTTF Therapy is delivered by a portable, non-invasive medical device designed for continuous use throughout the day by the patient. The device has been shown in vitro and in vivo studies to slow and reverse tumor growth by inhibiting mitosis, the process by which cells divide and replicate.

The delivery system weighs about six pounds and creates a low intensity, alternating electric field within the tumor that exerts physical forces on electrically charged cellular components, preventing the normal mitotic process and causing cancer cell death prior to division. NovoTTF Therapy is not approved for the treatment of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. The safety and effectiveness of the therapy in this indication has not been established.