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Wearable electrodes that deliver alternating electric fields disrupting cancer cell division.
Optune approved in glioblastoma (EF-14), mesothelioma, and NSCLC after platinum (LUNAR, 2024). Optune Pax approved in Q1 2026 with chemotherapy for locally advanced pancreatic cancer (PANOVA-3), the first approval specific to that setting in nearly 30 years. Mechanism and magnitude of benefit remain debated.
Low-intensity, intermediate-frequency (100-300 kHz) alternating fields interfere with mitotic spindle assembly and cytokinesis.
Optune is a wearable device delivering electric fields that disrupt cell division. It is approved for glioblastoma and, in 2026, pancreatic cancer.
The evidence behind the 2026 approval of Optune Pax for locally advanced disease, the first new approval in that setting in decades, and an unusual case of a survival gain without a progression-free survival gain.
Patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma who are fit and under about 70 receive six weeks of radiotherapy with daily temozolomide followed by six monthly cycles of temozolomide; this is still the backbone of treatment two decades later. Testing MGMT methylation identifies who benefits most and guides decisions in older patients. Median survival with the regimen remains only around 15-20 months, and no drug since has clearly improved on it, which is why glioblastoma is a priority for new approaches.
Query for this technology: (TITLE:"tumor treating fields" OR ABSTRACT:"tumor treating fields" OR TITLE:"tumour treating fields" OR ABSTRACT:"tumour treating fields" OR TITLE:"TTFields" OR ABSTRACT:"TTFields"). Results are unfiltered search hits about Tumour treating fields (TTFields), not a curated reading list.
Shares Tumor Treating Fields With Gemcitabine and Nab-Paclitaxel for Locally Advanced Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma: Randomized, Open-Label, Pivotal Phase III PANOVA-3 Study, Locally advanced unresectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, Pancreatic cancer roadmap: from Whipple's operation to gemcitabine, FOLFIRINOX, adjuvant chemotherapy, PARP inhibition, KRAS inhibition, vaccines and the surveillance question, Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
Shares Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, Transcranial focused ultrasound systems (Exablate Neuro, SonoCloud), Devices and physical therapies roadmap: heat and light → electric fields and focused sound → drug-releasing implants, The brain: barrier and sanctuary.
Shares Cryoablation systems, Microwave and radiofrequency ablation systems, Devices and physical therapies roadmap: heat and light → electric fields and focused sound → drug-releasing implants, Locally advanced unresectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
Shares Stupp 2005: temozolomide added to radiotherapy for newly diagnosed glioblastoma, University Hospital Zurich / Comprehensive Cancer Center Zurich, Glioma & glioblastoma.
Shares PANOVA-3, Locally advanced unresectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, Pancreatic cancer roadmap: from Whipple's operation to gemcitabine, FOLFIRINOX, adjuvant chemotherapy, PARP inhibition, KRAS inhibition, vaccines and the surveillance question, Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
Shares Roger Stupp, The brain: barrier and sanctuary, Glioma & glioblastoma.
Shares University Hospital Zurich / Comprehensive Cancer Center Zurich, Mesothelioma, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
Shares Transcranial focused ultrasound systems (Exablate Neuro, SonoCloud), Devices and physical therapies roadmap: heat and light → electric fields and focused sound → drug-releasing implants, The brain: barrier and sanctuary, Glioma & glioblastoma.