Exploring the Current Treatment Landscape of Ovarian Cancer

John Diaz, MD, the chief of Gynecologic Oncology, lead physician for Clinical Trials in Gynecologic Oncology at MCI, and chief of the Center of Excellence in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery, Baptist Health South Florida, discusses some of the targeted therapies that are showing promise for patients with ovarian cancer.

In the past 10 years, the ovarian cancer space has seen a number of precision oncology options be developed. One class of drug that has caught many investigators' eyes and have had the most success in this space are PARP inhibitors as they offer oncologists the opportunity to achieve better outcomes for their patients.

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0:08 | A class of drugs that gained a lot of attention in ovarian cancer over the last 10 years are PARP inhibitors. PARP inhibitors are an oral medication that patients with ovarian cancer can take after completing their platinum-based chemotherapy. PARP inhibitors have moved up now to first-line maintenance therapy. Selecting the appropriate patient for a PARP inhibitor is based on genomic testing.

0:31 | All women with newly diagnosed ovarian cancer are referred to our geneticists and undergo germline testing to look and see if they have a hereditary mutation, such as BRCA1 and BRCA2. In addition, the patient's tumor is evaluated to see if they have any indicators, or genomic markers, that would then determine they would have a positive response to maintenance therapy with 1 of the PARP inhibitors. Depending on the patient’s germline mutations, or tumor genomic markers, we then tailor these patients’ maintenance therapy to a PARP inhibitor, and now, potentially a PARP inhibitor in combination with a VEGF inhibitor such as bevacizumab [Avastin]. Randomized trials have shown that women who have tailored therapy with PARP inhibition or PARP inhibition combined with VEGF inhibition have better outcomes than those patients who don't have these biomarkers or receive no further maintenance therapy.