Ovarian cancer drug shows promise against breast cancer

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-06-04 07:00

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A phase-3 clinical trial using the ovarian cancer drug olaparib to treat 1,836 people with breast cancer who were going through chemo found 85.9 per cent of patients given the drug were free of the invasive version of the disease around 2.5 years after the treatment, compared with 77.1 per cent of those given a placebo (sugar pill). In terms of remaining free of 'distant' cancer - tumours that had spread from the original cancer - 87.5 per cent of patients on olaparib were distant disease-free after 2.5 years, compared with 80.4 per cent of patients given the placebo. Olaparib also reduced deaths from 86 in the placebo group to 59, although the scientists say this result did not stand up to their strict statistical testing. The drug had little effect on patients' self-reported quality of life.