Dr. O'Reilly on Ongoing Trials With PARP Inhibitors in Pancreatic Cancer

Eileen O'Reilly, MD, Winthrop Rockefeller Endowed Chair in Medical Oncology, co-director, Medical Initiatives, David M. Rubenstein Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research, section head, Hepatopancreaticobilary and Neuroendocrine Cancers, and medical oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), discusses ongoing clinical trials with PARP inhibitors in pancreatic cancer.

The addition of a checkpoint inhibitor to a PARP inhibitor has been evaluated in breast and ovarian cancers, says O’Reilly. Similar combinations will be subject to investigation in pancreatic cancer. For example, one trial at MSKCC will open for patients with germline BRCA1/2 or PALB2 mutations, other DNA damage response and repair mutation genes, and those with platinum-sensitive disease.

Combinations with VEGF-targeted agents and PARP inhibitors, which have shown activity in ovarian cancer, is another area of interest, concludes O’Reilly.