Novocure's Stock Gains 3% As Anthem Now Covers Optune For Its Members

Shares of Novocure Ltd (NASDAQ: NVCR) were trading higher by more than 3 percent early Friday morning after the company announced that Anthem Inc (NYSE: ANTM) will begin covering its Optune therapy for members.

Novocure's Optune is a portable, noninvasive device that delivers Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields) therapy to patients with newly diagnosed and recurrent glioblastoma.

Anthem is the fourth national commercial payer to offer coverage for Optune. Prior to Anthem, Aetna Inc (NYSE: AET) began a medical coverage policy in December that covers Optune for its members.

"The recent positive coverage by Anthem and Aetna of Optune for newly diagnosed glioblastoma signals that leading healthcare payers view Optune as a medical necessity for newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients," said Asaf Danziger, Novocure's CEO. "We are working diligently to build awareness of our EF-14 trial results, now published in JAMA, which show that Optune plus standard of care significantly extended both progression-free and overall survival in newly diagnosed GBM patients. Optune offers hope of a longer, better quality life for patients who are diagnosed with this devastating disease."

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