Dr. Konstantinopoulos on Rationale for TOPACIO Trial in Ovarian Cancer

Panagiotis A. Konstantinopoulos, MD, PhD, director, Translational Research, Gynecologic Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, associate professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, discusses the rationale behind the TOPACIO trial for the treatment of patients with recurrent ovarian cancer (ROC).

Treatment for patients with platinum-resistant or platinum-refractory ovarian cancer is an important unmet need as these patients have very limited treatment options, says Konstantinopoulos. Bevacizumab (Avastin) paired with chemotherapy is currently FDA approved for the treatment of patients who have had up to two prior lines of chemotherapy.

At the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting, Konstantinopoulos presented data from the TOPACIO trial which focused on a difficult-to-treat patient population. The trial combined the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) with the PARP inhibitor niraparib (Zejula). Data indicated the immunotherapy combination resulted in a 25% objective response rate (ORR) for all patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer and an ORR of 45% in the subgroup with BRCA mutations.