New Frontline Combinational Therapy For Ovarian Cancer

Release Date: 30-Sep-2019

According to the findings of a recent study of phase III PAOLA-1 trial presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2019, a new combinational therapy consisting olaparib (Lynparza) and bevacizumab (Avastin) is able to improve the median progression-free survival (PFS) by 5.5 months as compared with bevacizumab and placebo for patients. The study was performed for the activity of this combination against the newly diagnosed, advanced ovarian cancer. The patients were following prior treatment with a platinum-based chemotherapy plus bevacizumab. The findings according findings from the phase III PAOLA-1 trial presented at the ESMO Congress 2019.

During the study, it was observed that the median progression free survival in the olaparib arm was 22.1 months as compared with 16.6 months of placebo arm. This benefit was observed in most of the patients but more promising effects were observed in those patients, which have tumor testing positive for BRCA1/2 mutations (tBRCAm) and for those with a homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) score of andge;42 by the myChoice HRD Plus assay (HRD-positive).

According to the author Isabelle Ray-Coquard, MD, PhD, from the Centre Leon Berard, Universite Claude Bernard, in Lyon, France, AOLA-1 met its primary objective, demonstrating a statistically significant improvement in PFS in the intent-to-treat population when olaparib, compared with placebo, was added to first-line standard-of-care bevacizumab maintenance treatment. This was the first randomized trial to explore the efficacy and the safety of the combination of olaparib and bevacizumab in patients with newly diagnosed ovarian cancer.

A discussant of EMSO Ana Oaknin, MD, PhD, from the Vall dandacute;Hebron Institute of Oncology, said that the main goal in ovarian cancer is to avoid relapse after first-line therapy because otherwise, the probability of cure is quite low.She further added that the combination of bevacizumab and olaparib as maintenance therapy should become a new standard of care for patients with advanced ovarian cancer. This trial is a significant step forward in treatment for these women.