The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug to treat advanced ovarian cancer, along with a test to identify patients eligible to receive the drug.
Lynparza (olaparib) belongs to a new class of drugs called poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors. The drug is for women who have already received extensive treatment for advanced ovarian cancer associated with defective BRCA genes, according to an FDA news release issued on December 19, 2014.
Approval of the AstraZeneca drug was based on a clinical trial of almost 140 women with BRCA mutation-associated ovarian cancer. Thirty-four percent of the patients on the drug had partial shrinkage or complete disappearance of their tumors for an average of eight months, the FDA reported.
SOURCE: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, news release, Dec. 19, 2014
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