The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit says the new TheraBionic P1 device, an FDA-approved, at-home treatment, now is available to treat advanced liver cancer. Karmanos Cancer Center is the first institution worldwide to prescribe this treatment.
The TheraBionic P1 device is a novel, handheld, portable device that produces low levels of 27.12 MHz radiofrequency electromagnetic fields, which are amplitude-modulated at tumor-specific frequencies.
The device is coupled with a spoon-shaped antenna placed on the patient’s tongue during treatment administered in three one-hour sessions daily, delivering low levels of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields throughout the patient’s body. The electromagnetic fields block the growth of tumor cells without affecting healthy tissue.
The P1 device was FDA-approved in September 2023 for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common type of liver cancer. Patients 18 years of age or older who have failed first- and second-line therapy are eligible for this treatment.
The TheraBionic P1 device is the first FDA-approved systemic therapy using radiofrequency electromagnetic fields to treat cancer.
“This new treatment offers additional hope, extended life, and minimal side effects to patients with incurable cancer,” says Dr. Boris Pasche, president and CEO of Karmanos, chair of the Department of Oncology at Wayne State University, and co-inventor of the TheraBionic P1 device. “Having this treatment finally come to market makes a meaningful difference in how we treat this disease and help our patients continue their lives.”
Pasche is an oncologist specializing in treating gastrointestinal malignancies and hereditary cancer. His research focuses on cancer susceptibility and new therapies.
With the Therabionic P1 device, liver cancer frequencies are recognized by receptors on the liver cancer cells, transforming these frequency signals into growth arrest, making them solely effective in treating liver cancer. These same frequencies, however, would not work for breast cancer tumors, and the reverse is also true. The radiofrequency levels delivered during treatment are lower than those generated by cellular phones when held close to the body.
HCC accounts for approximately 90 percent of all liver cancers, with average survival rates between six and 20 months. Patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma who fail first- and second-line therapies often have severely impaired liver function, with many patients needing to enter hospice care, so additional treatment options were previously limited or nonexistent.
Multiple studies over two decades have shown using the TheraBionic P1 device resulted in tumor shrinkage, blocked new cancer cell growth, and increased overall survival rates.
According to TheraBionic Inc., patients undergoing treatment in these studies did not experience debilitating side effects associated with other cancer-fighting therapies, including loss of appetite, diarrhea, and irritation of the palms and soles.
