Promising New Treatment Option For Women With Recurrent Ovarian Cancer

Combining the new drug trabectedin with pegylated liposomal doxorubicin provides clinical benefit to women with relapsed ovarian cancer, according to new results.

The combination, which importantly does not include a platinum drug, challenges the current standard of treatment for women whose cancer recurs at least 6 months after first-line treatment, said Associate Prof. Bradley J. Monk from the University of California Irvine Medical Center.

“This trial, which included almost two-thirds such women, challenges this traditional paradigm and suggests that a non-platinum doublet is also effective in this setting,” he said.

“Trabectedin represents a ‘new chemical entity’ in North America and if approved by the FDA, would be an important new option for women with recurrent ovarian cancer.”

Trabectedin, a synthetic version of a compound first isolated from sea-squirts, has been granted marketing approval in Europe for the treatment of patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma.

In the latest trial, an international group of researchers studied the combination in 672 women whose ovarian cancer had progressed after first-line therapy.

Half the women received pegylated liposomal doxorubicin 30 mg/m2 over 60 min plus trabectedin 1.1mg/m2 over 3 hours every 3 weeks, the remainder received pegylated liposomal doxorubicin 50 mg/m2 alone every 4 weeks.

Read more at Medical News Today