Novocure's device shown to slow cancer progression in the brain in trial

(Reuters) -Novocure's therapy met the main goal of a late-stage trial of slowing the progression of cancer to the brain in patients with a type of lung cancer, the company said on Wednesday, sending the company's shares up 17%.

The therapy, which uses a device, slowed the spread of cancer in the brain to 21.9 months, along with supportive care, compared to 11.3 months for supportive care alone in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the company said in a statement.

The device, Tumor Treating Fields, uses a patient-operated device to create electric fields that the company says could disrupt cancer cell growth. The device failed a late-stage trial in ovarian cancer patients last year.

The device is also being tested in patients with pancreatic cancer. The device is approved for use in a type of cancer that starts in the brain and spinal cord and the cancer of a thin tissue called mesothelium. The device, branded as Optune Gio and Optune Lua, brought in $509 million in revenue last year.

Secondary tumors in the brain, called brain metastases, affect about 25% of patients with NSCLC.

The company said the therapy had failed to reach statistical significance for secondary goals in the trial, such as the time to deterioration of cognitive function.

Evercore ISI analyst Vijay Kumar said in a note that "one would have thought that delay in disease progression would translate to neurocognitive benefit... the lack of any benefit will be debated."

While certain secondary goals such as quality of life and time before the cancer spreads to other parts of the body "showed positive trends," the company said a full analysis of is ongoing.

(Reporting by Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Shailesh Kuber)