Men with prostate cancer benefit from treatment with the pioneering
drug olaparib — the first cancer drug to target inherited mutations — according to the results of a major trial.
The trial compared the activity of the combination of
the drug olaparib, which blocks DNA repair, and the blood vessel inhibitor drug cediranib, vs. olaparib alone.
«Murine study finds potential boost for ovarian cancer
drug Olaparib.»
Not exact matches
It could in future allow the PARP inhibitor
olaparib to become a standard treatment for advanced prostate cancer, by targeting the
drug at the men most likely to benefit, picking up early signs that it might not be working, and monitoring for the later development of resistance.
PARP (Poly ADP - Ribose Polymerase) inhibitors, such as
olaparib, are targeted
drugs that block an enzyme involved in many functions in the cell, including the repair of DNA damage.
These encouraging results show that
olaparib could be the next
drug to add to those already available.
Of the 16 patients with detectable DNA repair mutations, 14 responded to
olaparib — accounting for the large majority of patients who benefited from the
drug.
Zhang's team began by combining the PARP inhibitor
olaparib with 20 different helper compounds, and eventually discovered a family of
drugs called BET inhibitors that work with
olaparib to attack cancer cells.
Hence, a total of 90 patients from nine centers were randomly assigned to one of two study arms for the phase II clinical trial: the first taking capsules of
olaparib (400 mg twice daily) and the other taking a combination of the two
drugs (200 mg
olaparib in capsule - form twice daily and 30 mg tablets of cediranib once daily).
«This is the first study to test the promise of a new kind of
drug,
olaparib, for life - threatening prostate cancer no longer responding to best available treatment.
They found that tumor cells with the mutant genes were particularly sensitive to a
drug,
olaparib, recently approved for the treatment of hereditary ovarian cancer.
Tumours shrank in about 60 % of women who received the targeted
drug, called
olaparib (Lynparza), compared with 29 % of those who received chemotherapy.
He is currently leading the TOPARP trial, which is finding out whether a
drug called
olaparib (Lynparza) improves survival for men with advanced prostate cancer that has stopped responding to treatment.
Treating women with
olaparib, a new type of experimental
drug called a PARP inhibitor, after their initial cancer treatment, may help prevent their ovarian cancer from coming back, according to a phase - II clinical trial led by UK scientists.
The researchers also identified a way to safely combine both
drugs by giving
olaparib intermittently, minimising dangerous side effects.