PARP inhibition as New Maintenance Therapy for Ovarian Carcinoma

Olaparib significantly improved progression-free survival in patients with advanced BRCA-mutated  ovarian cancer. These results were shown on 21th of October at ESMO 2018. The SOLO-1 study is the first to evaluate maintenance therapy with Olaparib, an ADP-ribose polymerase-1 (PARP-1) inhibitor, after platinum-based chemotherapy in advanced ovarian carcinoma with BRCA1/2 mutation.

Of the 391 patients with complete or partial response after chemotherapy and enrolled in the study, 260 received a 300 mg Olaparib tablet twice a day for two years and 130 placebo (one patient did not receive placebo). The analysis of free-progression survival* showed a 70% reduction in the risk of tumor progression or death in Olaparib-treated group. Furthermore, there were no clinically relevant changes in the quality of life, and the dosage was well tolerated with only 12% of patients who discontinued the intake of Olaparib because of its toxicity. Although more time is needed to evaluate benefits in the overall survival**, these results show how treatment is effective and well tolerated, promising to improve current treatments of BRCA mutated ovarian carcinomas.

Original link of the ESMO congress

*Progression free survival: Survival free from tumor progression. The period of time during and after treatment during which a patient lives with the disease but does not get worse.

** Overall survival: Global survival. The period of time between the date of diagnosis or the start of treatment during which the patient is still alive.