Khasraw Discusses Veliparib Combination Used in Patients With Unmethylated MGMT Glioblastoma
Mustafa Khasraw, MD, discusses the purpose II VERTU study and shares key takeaways from his presentation at the 2019 Society for NeuroOncology Annual Meeting.
Mustafa Khasraw, MD, deputy directoy, medical oncologist and nuerologist, Duke Center for Cancer Immunotherapy, Duke Cancer Center, Duke Health, discusses the purpose of the phase II VERTU study and shares key takeaways from his presentation at the 2019 Society for NeuroOncology Annual Meeting
The study randomized patients to standard treatment (radiotherapy) plus temzolomide chemotherapy for glioblastoma or the combination of PARP inhibitor veliparib (ABT-888) with radiotherapy followed by temzolomide in combination with veliparib, which was the experimental arm of the trail. The study included patients with glioblastoma who have a poor prognosis due to an unmethylated enzyme called MGMT. The purpose of the experiment was to make DNA-repair inefficient so that cancer cells would be eliminated.
The experimental combination did not improve survival in patients with unmethylated MGMT glioblastoma despite previous signals of activity in animal subjects, which was the rationale for the VERTU study.
