Pazopanib has been used to extend remission in Ovarian Cancer Patients

[Whippit]

A friend has just referred me to a hopeful article in the American Society of Clinical Oncology Research Round Up following the 13th Meeting of ASCO. It refers to treatments being trialled in Germany and you can read the newsletter online at

cancer.net/sites/cancer.net...

The article on Ovarian Cancer at P 17 is pasted below:

Women with advanced ovarian cancer or a related gynecologic cancer who receive treatment with the targeted therapy pazopanib (Votrient) following successful chemotherapy lived longer without their disease coming back than those receiving a placebo (an inactive treatment, often called a “sugar pill”), according to the results of a recent clinical trial. Pazopanib is medication taken by mouth that focuses on stopping angiogenesis, which is the process of making new blood vessels. Because a tumour needs the nutrients delivered by blood vessels to grow and spread, the goal of antiangiogenesis therapy is to starve the tumour.

Despite successful initial treatment with surgery and chemotherapy, about 70% of women with advanced ovarian cancer experience a recurrence (when the cancer comes back after the initial treatment), and about half of these occur within the first year. Advanced ovarian cancer Treatment with Pazopanib After Successful Chemotherapy Delays the Recurrence of Advanced Ovarian Cancer is cancer that has spread into the peritoneum (the membrane that lines the inside of the abdomen) or to distant organs. Because doctors are currently unable to predict which patients will experience a recurrence, maintenance therapy (ongoing treatment to help lower the risk of recurrence after the cancer has disappeared following initial therapy) is a promising area of research.

As part of this study, 940 women with stage III or stage IV ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer (a rare cancer that begins in the peritoneum) received either pazopanib or a placebo every day for 24 months. Before participating in this study, all of the women had surgery and five or more rounds of chemotherapy that successfully prevented the disease from getting worse.

Researchers found that for women who received maintenance therapy with pazopanib, it took an average of 18 months for the disease to worsen compared with 12 months for women who did not receive the maintenance therapy.

What this means for patients: “Our findings show that we finally have a drug that can maintain control over ovarian cancer growth achieved through initial treatments,” said lead author Andreas du Bois, MD, Professor of Gynecologic Oncology at Kliniken Essen Mitte in Essen, Germany.

'If pazopanib is approved for ovarian cancer, many patients will experience longer diseasefree and chemotherapy-free periods.'

Pazopanib is currently approved to treat kidney cancer and soft tissue sarcoma. It is not approved in the United States for use as a maintenance therapy for ovarian cancer at this time. As a result, it may only available as part of a clinical trial. If you are interested in participating in a clinical trial, talk with your doctor for more information.

This is interesting research. One of the points raised at the APPG for Ovarian Cancer at Westminster this month was why we in the UK have to re-trial drugs that have been trialled and proved safe and effective elsewhere. This delays potential treatments being available within our shores and is costing lives.

[Hidden]

Seems very good news to me....when we were in London Prof McNeish explained the reasons why they can't always take the trials in America as being correct though.

Love x G x

[Whippit]

Ah no, The trials were conducted in Germany for a start.

These trials were conclusive in that the independent variable effects in the control group were demonstrated. In the US Iain McNeish said that the results of trials are often skewed because the group receiving the placebo frequently obtained the treatment given to the control group via their private health care insurance at the conclusion of the trial so it gives the impression that the new treatment is no more effective than the standard treatment.

Here the placebo group did not have prolonged remission and the control group did. That's significant.

Hopefully someone in the UK research field is also on the ball. xxx love Annie

[Hidden in reply to Whippit]

Point taken ! xx

[mrshill in reply to Whippit]

As we are in the EU why do we not have the same medications and trials as other european countries, I was told by an Oncologist that in France and Germany women are automatically given Avastin when they are treated for oc. Is this because they have to contribute to their healthcare? is the NHS a double edged sword.

[Whippit in reply to mrshill]

Well if we can't co-ordinate drug availability and treatment within the UK it's a lost hope to think we can have parity of treatment across the EU. Traude did tell me that in the Netherlands, where it seems treatment is second-to-none' residents pay 50% tax and have a compulsory private health insurance of 100 Euros per month.

It does seem to me that the public/private mix of healthcare in other western European countries is far superior to ours. It's ridiculous to expect to treat patients today on the post-war funding formula developed by Churchill.

If only someone had told me health-care is unfair across the UK and that I would be well advised to pay for private health care in Wales I most certainly would have made this a priority.

xxx Love Annie