Maintenance olaparib Improves Progression-Free Survival in Phase III Clinical Trial

(October 23, 2018) Olaparib, or Lynparza, was shown to increase progression-free survival (PFS) by almost three years in an ongoing trial known as SOLO-1. The women in the study are BRCA 1 or 2 positive and newly diagnosed with an advanced stage of high grade serous or endometroid ovarian cancer, primary peritoneal, or fallopian tube cancer. Before starting olaparib, patients underwent both surgery and platinum based chemotherapy. Three years into the study, those who are on the PARP inhibitor olaparib have a 70% reduced risk for disease progression or death. The median of those who received a placebo instead of olaparib was 13.6 months, whereas the group that received the PARP inhibitor as maintenance therapy has yet to be determined.

Equally as important is that patients who were treated with olaparib took longer to get to the point when they needed a first or second therapy after their initial chemotherapy. The olaparib group had a median of 51.8 months before their first subsequent therapy versus 15.1 months for the placebo group. Meaning, the study author added, that the maintenance therapy does not adversely effect the benefits of subsequent therapies.

One of the authors of the study, Kathleen Moore, MD of the University of Oklahoma, says of the trial, “We believe the SOLO-1 data really promise a change in the standard of care for women with advanced ovarian cancer who harbor a BRCA mutation, and we hope this will be available to patients relatively soon.”

You can read more about it in Medpage Today.