Dr. Chase on Toxicities With Niraparib in Ovarian Cancer

Dana Chase, MD, FACOG, assistant professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix and Creighton University at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, Arizona Oncology, The US Oncology Network, discusses the safety profile of niraparib (Zejula) as frontline maintenance therapy in ovarian cancer.

The phase III PRIMA (ENGOT-OV26/GOG-3012) study demonstrated a progression-free survival (PFS) benefit with niraparib as frontline maintenance therapy compared with placebo in patients with stage III/IV ovarian cancer who responded to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy.

Moreover, 3 analyses presented as part of virtual platform for the SGO 2020 Annual Meeting demonstrated that the improvement in PFS was seen regardless of homologous recombination deficiency status or BRCA status.

The toxicities noted in the study were similar to those reported with niraparib as maintenance therapy in the recurrent setting, explains Chase. These adverse events include fatigue, anemia, thrombocytopenia, and gastrointestinal toxicities, such as nausea and vomiting, Chase concludes.