Key Challenges With Utilizing Targeted Therapies for Ovarian Cancer Treatment

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 challenges with using targeted therapies in the ovarian cancer space.

Diaz presented on the role of precision medicine and how it plays into the management of patients with ovarian cancer at the Inaugural Miami Cancer Institute Precision Medicine Oncology Symposium.

While a number of precision oncology options have been developed for this patient population in the past 10 years, Diaz notes that the space is still behind other fields, including the lung cancer and melanoma spaces, and even more advancements are needed.

Transcription:

0:08 | As gynecologic oncologists, we're a little bit behind our colleagues in medical oncology who have had the opportunity to utilize precision medicine in the treatment of lung cancer and melanoma. We've been a little bit slow to uptake, but over the last few years, there have been a lot of advancements in identifying those women with ovarian cancer who would benefit from precision medicine.

0:34 | [In recent] years, we've seen an indication whereby you can look at these individual patients’ genomic markers and determine who has the best benefit of a PARP inhibitor per se, as well as a potential benefit for immunotherapy. This has helped us to improve our patient outcomes with tailored delivery medications. Most recently, the FDA approved the new medication for patients with ovarian can who have the biomarker for folate receptor. This has been a huge accomplishment in the treatment of platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, where we have limited effective tools. This has been a big breakthrough for those of us in gynecologic oncology to utilize precision medicine for the treatment of our patients.