PARP inhibitors are a very promising strategy that moves the treatment of ovarian cancer into the era of personalized medicine,” said Thomas J. Herzog, MD, Director of Gynecologic Oncology at Columbia University Medical Center, New York.

“We now have a biomarker for identifying who will benefit from these agents. Certainly we know those who will most likely benefit are patients with a germline mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. This strategy was leveraged in the GOG 280 trial, as all patients were required to have a mutation for trial eligibility,” Dr. Herzog said.

Other patients may also benefit from PARP inhibitors, he continued, “such as those with somatic BRCA mutations and those with other defects in the homologous recombination genes.”

Dr. Herzog said that the responses to veliparib in platinum-resistant patients are very encouraging and warrant further study. ■

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