On Dec. 18, 2024, the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute announced that the new TheraBionic P1 device, an U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved, at-home treatment, is now 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.