Pulmonology & Critical Care
PHASE3
● Phase III
Can adding electric fields to standard treatment help people with advanced lung cancer?
ClinicalTrials.gov
Published March 30, 2026
NovoCure GmbH
When standard chemotherapy stops working for stage 4 lung cancer, the search for what comes next is urgent. A new study asked a key question: could adding a treatment called Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields) to the next line of drugs help people live longer? TTFields are electric fields delivered to the tumor area through a wearable device, designed to disrupt cancer cell division.
The trial involved 291 people whose cancer had progressed after platinum-based chemotherapy. They were randomly assigned to receive either standard drugs (like docetaxel or immune checkpoint inhibitors) alone, or those same drugs combined with the TTFields device. The main goal was to see if the combination improved overall survival compared to the drugs by themselves.
As the results are not yet reported, we don't know if the approach worked or how safe it was. The study was a phase 3 trial, which is the final stage of testing before potential approval, and it was funded by the company that makes the device. This means the findings, when they come, will be a crucial piece of evidence for patients and doctors facing limited options.
View Original Abstract ↓
Status: COMPLETED | Phase: PHASE3
Condition(s): Nonsmall Cell Lung Cancer, NSCLC
Intervention(s): NovoTTF-200T (DEVICE), Immune checkpoint inhibitors or docetaxel (DRUG)
The study is a prospective, randomized controlled phase III trial aimed to test the efficacy and safety of TTFields, using the NovoTTF-200T device, concurrent with standard therapies for stage 4 NSCLC patients, following progression while on or after platinum based treatment. The device is an experimental, portable, battery operated device for chronic administration of alternating electric fields (termed TTFields or TTF) to the region of the malignant tumor, by means of surface, insulated electrode arrays.
Detailed: PAST PRE-CLINICAL AND CLINICAL EXPERIENCE:
The effect of the electric fields (TTFields, TTF) has demonstrated significant activity in in vitro and in vivo NSCLC pre-clinical models both as a single modality treatment and in combination with chemotherapies and PD-1 inhibitors. TTFields have been demonstrated to act synergistically with taxanes and have been shown to be additive when combined with PD-1 inhibitors. In addition, TTFields have shown to inhibit metastatic spread of malignant melanoma in in vivo experiment.
In a pilot study, 42 patients with advanced NSCLC who had had tumor progression after at least one line of prior chemotherapy, received pemetrexed together with TTFields (150 kHz) applied to the chest and upper abdomen until disease progression (Pless M., et al., Lung Cancer
Primary Outcome(s): Overall Survival of Patients Treated With TTFields + Docetaxel or Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors vs. Docetaxel or Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors Alone (Superiority Analysis)
Enrollment: 291 (ACTUAL)
Lead Sponsor: NovoCure GmbH
Start: 2016-12 | Primary Completion: 2024-09-24
Results posted: 2026-03-18
