Melissa Hardesty, MD, gynecologic oncologist, Alaska Women’s Cancer Center, discusses the safety and efficacy of the bevacizumab (Avastin)/PARP inhibitor combination in ovarian cancer. She presented phase II findings from the OVARIO trial at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Bevacizumab and niraparib (Zejula) is an aggressive and effective combination, particularly in upfront maintenance, and Hardesty says this won’t become the standard of care for all patients. There is a small fraction of patients who will be cured after frontline maintenance therapy, so physicians don’t want to put patients on 2 additional years of adjuvant therapy if they don’t need it. Hardesty says the best patient population for this combination would be those who have a suspected short disease-free interval. An example of these patients would be those who are diagnosed early on with stage IV disease.

Bevacizumab monotherapy has shown activity in these patient populations.

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Melissa Hardesty, MD, gynecologic oncologist, Alaska Women’s Cancer Center, discusses the safety and efficacy of the bevacizumab/PARP inhibitor combination in ovarian cancer.

Dr. Hardesty on Bevacizumab/PARP Inhibitor Combination in Ovarian Cancer

Melissa Hardesty, MD, gynecologic oncologist, Alaska Women’s Cancer Center, discusses second-line maintenance therapy after frontline chemotherapy for patients with ovarian cancer. This is the basis of the OVARIO trial for which she is the lead investigator.

In the phase II single-arm study, patients with advanced ovarian, primary peritoneal, or fallopian tube cancer were treated with a combination of niraparib (Zejula) and bevacizumab (Avastin) after frontline platinum chemotherapy. The primary endpoint of the 2-year study is efficacy, with secondary focuses on progression-free survival and overall survival.

Hardesty says that most patients receiving chemotherapy alone will experience recurrence, and the average time to relapse is 18 months. Sometimes, she adds, it could be even quicker to recurrence; for example, if a patient has stage IV disease or if they have had a suboptimal surgical procedure.

The OVARIO trial is intended to extend the disease-free interval before second-line systemic therapy with maintenance agents.

Melissa Hardesty, MD, gynecologic oncologist, Alaska Women’s Cancer Center, discusses second-line maintenance therapy after frontline chemotherapy for patients with ovarian cancer.

Melissa Hardesty, MD

Articles

Dr. Hardesty on Bevacizumab/PARP Inhibitor Combination in Ovarian Cancer

Dr. Hardesty on Second-Line Maintenance Therapy for Ovarian Cancer