According to a story from BioPortfolio, the biopharmaceutical company Clovis Oncology, Inc. recently released data from a phase 3 clinical trial of patients with recurrent ovarian cancer taking the company’s drug rucaparib (marketed as Rubraca). This data was focused on patient-centered outcomes and indicated that patients that were using the drug had greater periods of time in which they were free of symptoms when compared to placebo. The data also included other favorable findings; patients had an improved sense of well-being while using the drug and maintenance therapy with rucaparib provided significant advantages in progression free survival.
About Ovarian Cancer
Ovarian cancer can appear on or within the ovary. Ovarian cancer rarely causes distinctive symptoms in its early stages, so many patients are often diagnosed with advanced disease. The risk of getting ovarian cancer is connected to how long a woman has ovulated during her life; women who ovulate for longer periods are at greater risk. Late menopause or early puberty are risk factors, as are not having children, fertility medication, certain genetic variants and mutations (such as BRCA mutations), and exposure to talc, herbicides, and pesticides. Some symptoms of ovarian cancer include fatigue, bloating, a feeling of fullness, loss of appetite, indigestion, abdominal swelling, and pelvic pain. Treatment can include chemo, radiation, surgery, hormone therapy, and immunotherapy. There are many different kinds of ovarian cancer. Five year survival rate is 45 percent in the US. To learn more about ovarian cancer, click here.
Study Results
The findings from this study were presented at the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Annual Meeting, which was held in New Orleans this year. The analysis of the data included a measure called quality-adjusted time without symptoms or toxicity (Q-TWiST). In the study, the mean quality adjusted progression free survival was 12.02 months versus just 5.74 months for the placebo group. The drug was also able to produce superior Q-TWiST figures as well, with mean of 13.32 months vs 6.44 months for the intent-to-treat (ITT) group and 16.42 months vs 6.7 months for patients whose ovarian cancer was linked to a BRCA mutation.
These findings indicate that rucaparib can deliver significant improvements for quality of life measures for patients, prolong overall survival, and delay disease progression.
