George Demetri, MD

“I am intrigued by this study. I have no idea by which molecular mechanism this [tumor-treating fields therapy] works, but the data are the data,” said George Demetri, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Center, Boston. Dr. Demetri moderated the press conference where these data were discussed.

“A panoply of failed studies have been conducted in glioblastoma. When the interim analysis came out, I had a patient with metastatic sarcoma who came to me and said he wanted tumor-treating fields. But, of course, it cannot be applied for widespread metastatic disease,” he said.

“That said, this is a clever technology that might be important in other cancers too. Glioblastoma is amenable to this approach because the cancer stays in the brain. This is an unmet need,” he added.

“Glioblastoma was a clinically dismal field, and now we have this new technology from the investigator who proved the benefits of temozolomide 10 years ago. It took a 10-year commitment to follow this through to the current final analysis of survival,” Dr. Demetri said. ■

Disclosure: Dr. Demetri reported no potential conflicts of interest.