Dr. Zakashansky on the Benefit of Maintenance Olaparib in BRCA+ Ovarian Cancer

Konstantin Zakashansky, MD, gynecologic oncologist and associate professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science at Mount Sinai Health System, discusses final overall survival data from the phase 3 SOLO2 trial evaluating maintenance olaparib (Lynparza) in platinum-sensitive, relapsed ovarian cancer with a BRCA mutation.

The most significant finding from the study is that maintenance therapy with olaparib showed an unprecedented improvement of 12.9 months in median overall survival (OS) versus placebo, says Zakashansky; this is the largest OS improvement in recurrent ovarian cancer patients ever reported. In the setting of PARP inhibition, which has revolutionized therapy of ovarian cancer in the first-line and recurrent setting, all the trials presented to date only show improvement in progression-free survival (PFS), says Zakashansky. For the first time, this trial showed one of the largest improvements in OS in this subset of patients, adds Zakashansky.

At 5 years, 42.1% of the patients treated with olaparib were still alive compared with 33.2% of the patients who received placebo. Looking at the entire cohort, the median OS was 51.7 months in patients who received PARP inhibition in the maintenance setting compared with 38.8 months of patients who received placebo; this translates to an almost 13-month difference in median OS, concludes Zakashanksy.

<<< 2020 ASCO Virtual Scientific Program