22nd Oct 2018 08:38
LONDON (Alliance News) - AstraZeneca PLC on Sunday said its Lynparza drug substantially reduced the risk of disease progression or death in patients with ovarian cancer.
The drug, Lynparza, inhibits a type of protein that helps repair damaged cells called PARP or poly-ADP ribose polymerase. The goal of this type of inhibitor is to stop PARP from repairing cancer cells.
Lynparza is the only PARP inhibitor to have improved progression-free survival as a maintenance treatment in advanced ovarian cancer.
The results emerged from Astra's SOLO-1 phase three randomised placebo-controlled trial of 391 advanced ovarian cancer patients with a BRCA mutation, who were newly diagnosed and had already been given chemotherapy.
"The SOLO-1 results demonstrate the potential of Lynparza maintenance therapy earlier in the treatment pathway and reinforce the importance of identifying a patient's BRCA mutation status at the time of diagnosis – these results could change the way we treat women with advanced BRCA-mutated ovarian cancer," said Kathleen Moore, co-principal investigator of the trial.
Of the women given Lynparza, 60% remained progression free at 36 months, meaning that their cancer did not get worse. This compares with only 27% of patients given the placebo.
"Results of the trial confirm the statistically-significant and clinically-meaningful improvement in progression-free survival for Lynparza compared to placebo, reducing the risk of disease progression or death by 70%," said Astra.
Typically, 70% of women with advanced ovarian cancer will relapse within three years of treatment and the disease is considered largely incurable from that point on.
Shore said Monday that it expects a small positive reaction in shares, given the strength of the data, and noted that Lynparza was granted orphan drug status last Tuesday in pancreatic cancer.
Lynparza is currently approved in the US as a maintenance treatment for recurring ovarian cancer.
Shares were up 0.2% at 5,946.00 pence on Monday morning.
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