What the trial was testing
The PANOVA-3 enrolled 571 patients with pancreatic cancer. The study was sponsored by NovoCure Ltd. and tracked outcomes across the full group of patients who matched the trial's eligibility profile.
It was a large trial designed to confirm whether the treatment works well enough for wider use. Trials at this stage are designed to produce evidence regulators and physicians can act on — not just observations to follow up later.
What the results showed
Patients using the electric field device lived 2 months longer than those on chemotherapy alone.
Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2025 · NCT03377491
These findings — that patients lived 16.2 months with the device vs. 14.2 months without it — were published in the Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and represent the headline result of the study.
Researchers tracked outcomes across 571 patients enrolled in the trial. The result was consistent enough across the group that the team felt confident reporting it.
What this means for patients
For patients with pancreatic cancer, this result changes the calculus on what to ask their care team about. Whether it changes day-to-day care depends on factors like disease subtype, prior treatments, and where the patient is in their care journey.
What you can do now
This device delivers gentle electric fields through patches on your skin while you continue standard chemotherapy. It extended life by 2 months and delayed pain in this large study. The main side effect is skin irritation where the patches sit. The device is FDA-approved for pancreatic cancer — ask your doctor if it's right for you.
Eligibility for the treatments mentioned above depends on specific test results and clinical history. Bring this summary, the trial name, and your most recent labs or pathology report to your next visit.
Open pancreatic cancer trials
Study of RMC-9805 in Participants With KRAS G12D-Mutant Solid Tumors
This study is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of RMC-9805 as monotherapy and in combination with RMC-6236 in adults with KRAS G12D-mutant solid tumors.
EUS-guided RFA for Pancreatic Neoplasms
Radiofrequency ablation has been used for treatment of solid neoplasms of the liver, lung, kidney and adrenal. Recently, EUS-guided RFA has become available and the device allows EUS-guided treatment of pancreatic neoplasms. The procedure has been shown to be feasible in the porcine pancreas and was used to treat small groups of patients that are not suitable for surgery suffering from pancreatic neoplasms. The aim of the current study is to perform a multi-center prospective study on EUS-guided radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of solid pancreatic neoplasms. The hypothesis is that EUS-guided RFA is safe, feasible and effective for treating solid pancreatic neoplasms.