Big news for patients with BRCA-mutated metastatic breast cancer: a known ovarian cancer treatment has passed phase III clinical trials for BRCA-mutated metastatic breast cancer, and it’s way better than the traditional treatments. Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca recently presented data that suggests a “statistically-significant” and “clinically-meaningful improvement” for their drug, LYNPARZATM (olaparib).
Better yet, this drug comes in the form of a pill, and it still provides better results than the next best physician-recommended option, chemotherapy. LYNPARZATM (olaparib) comes in tablets and was tested as a 300 mg twice daily dosage.
According to the testing, patients who took the 300 mg twice daily dosage of LYNPARZATM (olaparib) saw a 42% reduction in risk of disease worsening and death.
Chief Medical Officer, Sean Bohen, is very optimistic about this development:
“The OlympiAD results shared today mark the first time a targeted therapy shows benefit over the current standard of care for patients with HER2-negative gBRCA-mutated metastatic breast cancer. This also represents an important milestone for LYNPARZA, as this is the first positive Phase III trial in which a PARP inhibitor has shown a significant benefit for patients outside of ovarian cancer.”
Clearly, this new drug seems like the best option for patients with this condition. Though it cannot yet be cured, new developments in slowing the progression BRCA-mutated metastatic breast cancer helps researchers and doctors get closer to finding a better solution.
Here’s a little more about BRCA-mutated metastatic breast cancer…
Mutations in the human genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 are associated with higher risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer in women. Around one in eight women will develop metastatic breast cancer in the US. Moreover, BRCA1 and BRAC2 mutations make up 20-25% of hereditary breast cancers and 5-10% of all breast cancers.
To learn more about BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations and metastatic breast cancer, read this!
Of course, there are warnings and precautions for any new drug, which you can read about here. Still, super exciting that there is a new option for patients with this severe type of breast cancer.
The more advancements we make in this frontier make finding a possible cure for breast and ovarian cancers more and more realistic. Not only this, but this new development, if nothing else, will undoubtedly improve the overall quality of life for metastatic breast cancer patients.
