Novocure, founded by Technion professor Yoram Palti, has developed a device worn on the head that creates alternating electric fields to treat brain tumors. The company announced that in a phase III clinical trial, its technology, in combination with standard chemotherapy, extended the lives of patients. Novocure claims that it “slows and reverses tumor growth by inhibiting mitosis, the process by which cells divide and replicate” and that it “creates a low intensity, alternating electric field within a tumor that exerts physical forces on electrically charged cellular components, preventing the normal mitotic process and causing cancer cell death.”

Survival improved from 16.6 months to 19.6 months in the study, and the percentage of patients surviving two years increased from 29% to 43%.