Commenting on these results, Carol Aghajanian, MD, Chief of the Gynecologic Medical Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, said, “There is currently no standard of care for maintenance therapy. Evidence continues to mount that targeting angiogenesis is important in ovarian cancer. The bottom line from several studies is that targeting angiogenesis is effective in ovarian cancer. These results show that pazopanib extends progression-free survival as maintenance therapy, similar to the results of previous trials of bevacizumab.”

Evolving Story

Given the importance of having an angiogenesis inhibitor on board, questions remain regarding how to best exploit these drugs, she continued.

“It’s clear to us that patients live longer when treated with an angiogenesis inhibitor. We need further study and clarification about how to use these drugs. What is the right time? What is the right drug? Should we put off therapy when the patient is in remission, giving her a longer time when she is not on chemotherapy? The benefits might be better if we waited to treat,” she suggested.

“The question of how best to treat ovarian cancer is an evolving story. Neither bevacizumab nor pazopanib is approved for treatment of ovarian cancer in the United States, although bevacizumab is registered in Europe for use concurrently with chemotherapy and subsequently as maintenance therapy,” Dr. Aghajanian said. ■

Disclosure: Dr. Aghajanian reported no potential conflicts of interest.