Novocure announced that Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare approved reimbursement for Optune Lua®? through the country's National Health Insurance coverage. Optune Lua is approved in Japan for concurrent use with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in adult patients with unresectable advanced/recurrent NSCLC who progressed on or after platinum-based chemotherapy.
Optune Lua is a wearable, portable medical device that produces alternating electric fields known as Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields), which are delivered through non-invasive, wearable arrays. TTFields exert physical forces on the electrically charged components of dividing cancer cells, resulting in cancer cell death. Patients who are eligible to be treated with Optune Lua will be able to access therapy at qualified health centers.
TTFields do not significantly affect healthy cells because they have different properties (including division rate, morphology, and electrical properties) than cancer cells. These multiple, distinct mechanisms work together to target and kill cancer cells. Due to these multimechanistic actions, TTFields therapy can be added to cancer treatment modalities in approved indications and demonstrates enhanced effects across solid tumor types when used with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immune checkpoint inhibition, or targeted therapies in preclinical models.
TTFields therapy provides clinical versatility that has the potential to help address treatment challenges across a range of solid tumors.
