Ovarian Cancer

Jonathan Ledermann, MD, professor of medical oncology in the University College London Cancer Institute and director of Cancer Research UK and UCL Cancer Trials Centre, discusses the toxicities associated with rucaparib (Rubraca) for the treatment of ovarian cancer.

A look back at all the FDA news that occurred in the month of August.

The FDA has granted its approval to olaparib tablets (Lynparza) as a maintenance therapy for patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer, who are in a complete or partial response to platinum-based chemotherapy, regardless of <em>BRCA</em> status.

Kathleen N. Moore, MD, assistant professor in the section of gynecologic oncology and director of the Oklahoma TSET Phase I Clinical Trials Program at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, discusses challenges with PARP inhibitors in ovarian cancer.

The risk of progression or death was reduced by 70% with maintenance olaparib (Lynparza) compared with placebo for patients with platinum-sensitive, relapsed, <em>BRCA</em>-mutant ovarian cancer.

Julia A. Elvin, MD, PhD, discusses her genomic research in ovarian cancer and how it could potentially impact treatment decisions for patients.

Douglas Levine, MD,&nbsp;provides his insight on some of the recent data with PARP inhibitors in ovarian cancer, as well as his predictions for the field in the next several years.<br /> &nbsp;

Ursula A. Matulonis, MD, professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, medical director of Gynecologic Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the toxicities that are associated with PARP inhibitors in ovarian cancer.

Rucaparib improved progression-free survival versus placebo as a maintenance treatment for women with&nbsp;platinum-sensitive, high-grade ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer,&nbsp;according to results from the phase III ARIEL3 trial.

A recent study is offering insight into&nbsp;the age at which BRCA1/2-positive women are most at risk for deveoping breast and ovarian cancer.

Immunotherapy combinations with PARP inhibitors or checkpoint inhibitors may represent the future of treatment for patients with ovarian cancer, said Samir N. Khleif, MD, during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Douglas A. Levine, MD, professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and director, Divison of Gynecologic Oncology, NYU Langone Medical Center, discusses the impact of PARP inhibitors on the landscape of ovarian cancer.

Julia Elvin, MD, PhD, vice president and senior associate medical director, Foundation Medicine, discusses a study of comprehensive genomic profiling with loss of heterozygosity to identify therapeutically relevant subsets of ovarian cancer.

Approximately 25% of patients with <em>BRCA</em> wild-type serous ovarian cancer may benefit from treatment with PARP inhibitors, along with 12.7% of patients with a non-serous histology, according to findings of genomic analyses in patients with ovarian cancer presented during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting that&nbsp;demonstrate that comprehensive genomic profiling is a valuable tool to integrate into routine ovarian cancer treatment decision making and clinical trial design.

Kathleen N. Moore, MD, assistant professor, The Stephenson Cancer Center, The University of Oklahoma, discusses results of an ongoing clinical trial exploring&nbsp;mirvetuximab soravtansine (IMGN853), a folate receptor alpha-targeting antibody-drug conjugate, in platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian cancer patients, during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

The PARP inhibitor niraparib (Zejula) provided significant benefits in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer who had a partial response, with similar treatment effects in patients with or without germline <em>BRCA</em> mutations, according to a post-hoc analysis of data from the ENGOT-OV16/NOVA trial presented at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Progression-free survival (PFS) continues to be superior with the combination of cediranib maleate and olaparib (Lynparza) compared with olaparib alone in patients with recurrent platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer in a randomized open-label study with follow-up to December 2016.

Napabucasin, a first-in-class cancer stemness inhibitor, can be safely combined with full-dose weekly paclitaxel to treat patients with advanced, platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

Patients with recurrent, platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer and germline <em>BRCA</em> mutations had significant improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) with no decrement in health-related quality of life (hr-QoL) during maintenance therapy with olaparib (Lynparza), according to a review of patient-reported outcomes in a randomized trial.

Mirvetuximab soravtansine (IMGN853), a folate receptor alpha-targeting antibody-drug conjugate, showed promising activity in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer who had received 1 to 3 prior lines of therapy.

The PARP inhibitor olaparib (Lynparza) provides clinically significant, long-term treatment benefits in patients with platinum-sensitive relapsed serous ovarian cancer, according to the protocol-specified final overall survival (OS) analysis of the phase II Study 19 trial presented during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Michael Birrer, MD, PhD, Director, University of Alabama Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses adverse event results of the phase III SOLO2 trial, which explored maintenance olaparib (Lynparza) tablets in patients with <em>BRCA</em>-mutated platinum-sensitive relapsed serous ovarian cancer.

A second cytoreductive surgery followed by platinum-based chemotherapy extended progression-free survival (PFS) compared with platinum-based chemotherapy alone in patients with relapsed ovarian cancer and a positive Arbeitsgemeinschaft Gyn&auml;kologische Onkologie (AGO) score.

Emma Barber, MD, UNC Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, UNC School of Medicine, UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses which patients with ovarian cancer are better candidates for neoadjuvant chemotherapy versus surgery.

Bevacizumab demonstrated superior progression-free survival and a trend toward improved overall survival (OS) in patients with proliferative or mesenchymal ovarian tumors compared with patients with immunoreactive or differentiated tumors.

Dennis Scribner, MD,&nbsp;discusses the treatment landscape for patients with recurrent ovarian cancer and how PARP inhibitors have enhanced the treatment options for this population.

Elizabeth Swisher, MD, professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Genetics, University of Washington School of Medicine, discusses a study that explored methylation as a predictor for response in ovarian cancer.

Adding bevacizumab to standard platinum-based chemotherapy demonstrated a clinically significant improvement in median overall survival in women with recurrent ovarian cancer.

The combination of the investigational agent birinapant and carboplatin could eliminate platinum-resistant, high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC) ovarian tumor cells, according to preclinical findings published in&nbsp;<em>Precision Oncology.</em>

Bradley J. Monk, MD, discusses&nbsp;his insight on the potential of immunotherapy in ovarian cancer, as well as what promise it might hold in other gynecologic malignancies.