An Introduction to the Discussion of Ovarian Cancer

Bradley Monk, MD, FACOG, FACS: Hello and welcome to this OncLive Peer Exchange® entitled, “Practical Implications for Treatment Strategies in Advanced Ovarian Cancer.” My name is Brad Monk; I’m a gynecologic oncologist joining you virtually from Phoenix, Arizona. Generally, we hold these in person, not with you but with my panelists, and I hope that we can continue to develop some chemistry, some synergy, and some controversy today as we talk about new strategies in ovarian cancer, both in the newly diagnosed setting and in the recurrent setting.

I’m joined by my friends and colleagues. I’m going to go around the screen: Dr Michael Birrer, from the University of Arkansas Medical Center, cancer center director. Michael, welcome.

Michael J. Birrer, MD, PhD: Thank you. Glad to be here.

Bradley Monk, MD, FACOG, FACS: Beautiful view there from the 10th floor.

Michael J. Birrer, MD, PhD: One floor below you.

Bradley Monk, MD, FACOG, FACS: Second, Dr Matthew Powell from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. Thank you for being with us my friend.

Matthew Powell, MD: Thank you so much for having me. I’m looking forward to this.

Bradley Monk, MD, FACOG, FACS: Thank you. Dr Leslie Randall from Virginia Commonwealth University Health in Richmond, Virginia. Leslie, thank you.

Leslie Randall, MD, FACOG: Hello.

Bradley Monk, MD, FACOG, FACS: Dr Shannon Westin from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Hi, Shannon.

Shannon N. Westin, MD, MPH, FACOG: Hi, good to be here.

Bradley Monk, MD, FACOG, FACS: It’s going to be fun. We have a lot of changes here recently, changes that I want to hear your opinions on. Hopefully, our audience will also be engaged by your conversations and opinions. We’re going to highlight a number of topics pertaining to the treatment of advanced ovarian, fallopian tube, and peritoneal cancers, and the impact of recent clinical trial data on decision-making, and 2 new FDA approvals. In addition, we’ll be covering key data from 2020 SGO [the Society of Gynecologic Oncology annual meeting] and ASCO [the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting], which are both virtual meetings.

It’s impressive that, in 2 years, we’ve had 4 new approvals in frontline advanced ovarian cancer. Before that, it was almost 20 years since the standard had changed away from cyclophosphamide to paclitaxel. It took 20 years to get 4 new indications in 2 years. All of those papers are published in The New England Journal of Medicine, so it’s an exiting time.

Transcript Edited for Clarity