Dr. Penson on Re-Challenging With PARP Inhibition in Ovarian Cancer

Richard T. Penson, MD, MRCP, associate professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, and clinical director of Medical Gynecologic Oncology, in the Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses re-challenging with PARP inhibition in patients with ovarian cancer.

Patients who progress on PARP inhibition should not be immediately re-challenged with another PARP inhibitor, says Penson. However, patients who receive PARP inhibition in the adjuvant setting followed by a 6-month platinum-sensitive interval may be able to be re-challenged with a PARP inhibitor.

Although such as an approach has yet to be validated, data from a small, retrospective study presented at the 2019 SGO Annual Meeting showed that prior exposure to a PARP inhibitor does not prevent patients from responding to another PARP inhibitor in later lines of therapy. The results showed encouraging responses in patients who received a second PARP inhibitor, including a 13.6% partial response rate and a 59.1% stable disease rate.