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Experts hailed a “ leap forward ” for women with ovarian cancer as a breakthrough treatment was given the green light yesterday.
The drug niraparib has been approved for use by regulators in the greatest improvement in 30 years for the treatment of ovarian cancer.
Niraparib can stop the disease for about 12 months, which avoids the need for additional chemotherapy and allows women to have the best possible quality of life. It will be available to women with advanced ovarian cancer as early as their first cycle of treatment, meaning approximately 3,000 patients will have access to it each year.
Target Ovarian Cancer, a UK charity, described the treatment as a “major milestone” in the fight against the disease.
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Experts hailed a ‘quantum leap’ for women with ovarian cancer as breakthrough treatment got the green light yesterday (Stock Image)
Targeted treatments – supposedly because they exploit specific weaknesses in cancer cells – such as niraparib are rare in ovarian cancer and only a handful have been approved for use on the NHS.
These treatments were previously only available to women who have mutations in specific genes – about 13 percent of all people diagnosed with ovarian cancer. And only patients whose cancer had returned received it. However, niraparib – which prevents cancer cells from repairing themselves – will be available to all patients newly diagnosed with stage three or four ovarian cancer.
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This type of cancer is one of the deadliest, and 11 women die from the disease every day.
Two-thirds are diagnosed after the cancer has already spread, making it more difficult to treat and likely to come back. Experts have said that niraparib, which is taken as a daily pill, is important because it may help patients with ovarian cancer, who have limited treatment options, to survive longer. Research has shown that this significantly prolongs the time it takes for the disease to come back.
Annwen Jones of Target Ovarian Cancer said its approval was a “ major milestone in the fight against ovarian cancer, bringing hope during a pandemic where we are concerned about the number of women diagnosed late. ”
He added: “We haven’t had such a revolutionary drug available to so many people since the introduction of paclitaxel – taxol – in the 1990s.
Meanwhile, Cary Wakefield of Ovarian Cancer Action said the news marked a “leap forward for women with advanced ovarian cancer.” She added: ‘So far, treatment options have unfortunately been extremely limited. Personalized medicine is now available to thousands of women and it will change their lives.
The approval, given yesterday by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), will also be replicated in Wales and Northern Ireland.
A verdict on drugs in Scotland is expected later this year.
Professor Jonathan Ledermann, Director of Cancer Research UK, said: “This decision marks a turning point in the advanced treatment of ovarian cancer”.
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