Dr. Liu on Cediranib/Olaparib in Recurrent Ovarian Cancer

Joyce F. Liu, MD, MPH, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of clinical research for gynecologic oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the results of cediranib (Recentin) in combination with olaparib (Lynparza) in a phase 3 trial in patients with recurrent platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer.

In the study, patients were randomized 1:1:1 to receive either standard of care, olaparib, or cediranib/olaparib. The results of the study did not meet the primary end point of the trial; however, at the same time, activity was observed with the combination arm, says Liu. However, it’s important to be cognizant of the toxicity associated with the approach. It is possible that with better mitigation strategies or different dosing techniques, toxicities could be mitigated and allow for a higher degree of activity that is more similar to what was seen in the original phase 2 study.

Beyond that, the other interesting aspect of the study were the results from the preplanned subset analyses among patients who did or did not have a germline BRCA mutation. Notably, in those who had a germline BRCA mutation, the activity of both the olaparib monotherapy and the combination therapy had quite robust response rates ranging from 89% to 90%. The progression-free survival in both of those arms, although not statistically compared, was numerically longer than what was seen in the chemotherapy arm, concludes Liu.