The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has rejected Novocure’s application for marketing approval of Optune Mya, a medical device for the treatment of brain metastases in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.
The agency says the uncertainty surrounding the treatment’s clinical benefit is too great to warrant approval. However, the FDA has raised no concerns about the treatment’s safety profile.
Optune Mya is based on Novocure’s Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields) technology, which uses alternating electric fields delivered through adhesive patches placed on the body to disrupt cancer cell division and thereby inhibit tumour growth.