A revolutionary drug against ovarian cancer receives NHS approval

A "revolutionary" drug for women with ovarian cancer has been approved as a first-line treatment in the NHS.

The drug, named Lynparza (olaparib), is made available by the Cancer Fund to help women with a genetic form of cancer.

It was found that the drug prolonged the lives of more than twice the number of patients whose cancer could not worsen and that it could offer some curative treatment to some women.

The drug is now available for people newly diagnosed with ovarian cancer that has spread and who have the BRCA gene mutation (which increases your risk of cancer).

Until now, women with advanced ovarian cancer were offered surgery and chemotherapy to manage their disease. A small number of them received Lynparza after three cycles of chemotherapy.

From now on, patients will be able to access Lynparza much earlier in their treatment as a maintenance drug, provided that they have responded to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy.

Lynparza is known as an inhibitor of poly-ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) and prevents PARP protein in cancer cells from repairing damaged DNA, causing cancer cell death.

The NHS claims that ovarian cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in women.

Overall, about half of women with ovarian cancer will live at least five years after diagnosis, and about one in three will live for at least ten years, the organization says.

Cancer Research estimates that about 7,470 new cases of ovarian cancer were diagnosed in the UK between 2014 and 2016.

Annwen Jones, Executive Director of Target Ovarian Cancer, said about the drug: "For the first time, women with a mutation in the BRCA gene will be able to access this next generation of anti-cancer drugs revolutionary from the first treatment.

"For many women, this is a long-overdue improvement and we expect a future where all women diagnosed with ovarian cancer, regardless of their BRCA status, have multiple options for women. treatment.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) predicts that Lynparza could be administered to 700 women each year in England as a tablet twice a day.

Clinical data from the Royal Marsden Hospital in London showed that the drug reduced the risk of cancer worsening or death by 70% compared to placebo.

In addition, six out of ten (60%) patients who received the drug had no cancer progression after three years, compared with 27% of those who received placebo.

Dr. Susana Banerjee, a medical oncology consultant at the Royal Marsden in London and the Institute for Cancer Research, who led the clinical trial, described the drug as "a treatment that changes the practice."

"The maintenance treatment at olaparib heralds a new era for women with ovarian cancer – it's the first time we're seeing such dramatic improvements in survival without progression, "said Dr. Banerjee.

"This means that more women will have more time before relapse, chemotherapy time and the possibility of increased survival."

The oncologist went on to explain that some of his patients who took part in the trial at the Royal Marsden had remained cancer free several years later.

Jonathan Ledermann, professor of medical oncology at the University College London Cancer Institute, said: "With current standard treatments, which are limited to chemotherapy and surgery, sadly 70% of women relapse in three years.

"Olaparib is designed to exploit the Achilles heel of BRCA mutated ovarian cancer and we hope, based on the trial data, that it will dramatically improve outcomes for these patients."

A commercial agreement has been concluded between NHS England and AstraZeneca regarding the price of the drug.