Dr. Sabbatini on Frontline Treatment of Newly Diagnosed Ovarian Cancer

Paul Sabbatini, MD, deputy physician-in-chief for clinical research, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the frontline treatment of patients with newly diagnosed ovarian cancer.

Over the last few years, research has looked at several modalities like intraperitoneal (IP) chemotherapy, the addition of antivascular therapy, and changing the dosing schedule of frontline therapy. Sabbatini says that based on several randomized studies, researchers believe there is no significant benefit from IP chemotherapy. There appeared to be a robust advantage to weekly chemotherapy in the Japanese GOG3016 study, but it appeared to be less so in the subsequent GOG262 study, Sabbatini notes.

Moreover, the ICON8 study demonstrated there was no advantage for weekly therapy over 3-week therapy. Sabbatini concludes that physicians can choose either schedule as a backbone for which to explore novel agents like PARP inhibitors and anti—PD-1 drugs.