AstraZeneca reports positive results for ovarian cancer trial

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca reported that its Lynparza drug had positive results from a clinical trial to treat women with mutated ovarian cancer.

In a phase-three trial Lynparza tablets were used as a monotherapy to treat platinum-sensitive replaced BRCA-mutated ovarian cancer and the trial found that there was a “clinically-meaningful and statistically-significant improvement” of progression-free survival among patients compared to those on a placebo.

The median progression-free survival in patients using Lynparza exceeded the response from a phase two study.

Initial findings demonstrated that the safety profile of Lynparza was consistent with previous studies, while the positive results of the phase three trial follow the quick designation for the drug by the Food and Drug Administration, a US regulator, earlier in the year.

Sean Bohen, executive vice president, global medicines development and chief medical officer at AstraZeneca, said: “We will work with regulatory authorities to make Lynparza tablets available as quickly as possible to patients with ovarian cancer.

“We remain committed to investigating the full potential of Lynparza, both as monotherapy and in combinations, and to identifying all patients who may benefit from this important medicine."

The trial involved 295 randomised patients with germline BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations who had received at least two prior lines of platinum-based chemotherapy for ovarian cancer, which is the seventh most commonly diagnosed cancer and the eighth most common cause of cancer death for women.