SGO 2019: Treatment With Maintenance Niraparib in Recurrent Ovarian Cancer Extends Time Without Symptoms or Toxicity
Findings from a recent clinical trial presented in a Scientific Plenary session at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology’s (SGO) 50th Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer revealed that women with recurrent ovarian cancer who received niraparib as maintenance therapy experienced more time without certain side effects than those who received placebo (Abstract 1).
Niraparib, a poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor, provides significantly longer progression-free survival times for women with recurrent ovarian cancer compared to placebo. “When patients with recurrent ovarian cancer enter into a remission following platinum-based treatment, they now have the option to prolong their progression-free survival with a PARP inhibitor,” said Ursula A. Matulonis, MD, presenting author of the study and Director and Chief of Gynecologic Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
The purpose of the analysis of the ENGOT24-OC16/NOVA trial was to measure the time without symptoms or toxicity in women receiving niraparib as maintenance therapy as compared to placebo. Said Dr. Matulonis, “It’s really important to demonstrate that, if we’re adding a maintenance therapy, we’re not significantly altering women’s quality of life.”
Analysis Findings
The trial evaluated time without a certain level of three main symptoms: fatigue, nausea, and vomiting. Patients who received niraparib experienced longer the time without symptoms or toxicity than those who received placebo. Treatment with niraparib compared with placebo in cohorts either with or without a germline BRCA mutation resulted in a mean time without symptoms or toxicity benefit of 2.95 and 1.34 years, respectively.
Though clinical trials with cancer patients typically focus on measurements such as tumor progression and overall survival, quality of life is being included more often as an important outcome in these trials.
“All of these maintenance studies have a (quality of life) component to the trials,” said Dr. Matulonis. Quality of life is very important, she said, so that patients can take these drugs without experiencing unacceptable toxicities and keep their cancer in remission.
Disclosure: The study authors' full disclosures can be found at sgo.confex.com.
The content in this post has not been reviewed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc. (ASCO®) and does not necessarily reflect the ideas and opinions of ASCO®.
