Dr. Ledermann on Rationale for ARIEL3 Trial in Ovarian Cancer

Jonathan A. Ledermann, MD, professor of medical oncology at UCL Cancer Institute in London, discusses the rationale for the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase III ARIEL3 trial, which explored rucaparib (Rubraca) as maintenance therapy in women with high-grade, recurrent ovarian cancer who previously received platinum-based chemotherapy.

In the trial, progression-free survival (PFS) was assessed in patients with deleterious germline or somatic BRCA mutations. If positive, PFS would also be evaluated in patients with homologous recombination deficiencies (HRD) and the intent-to-treat population.

PFS was improved with the addition of rucaparib versus placebo across cohorts, reports Ledermann. Though, the BRCA-mutated population saw the greatest benefit with a median PFS of 16.6 months compared with 5.4 months with placebo (HR, 0.23; 95% CI, 0.16-0.34; P <.0001).

Patients with HRD and the intention-to-treat population also experienced an improvement in median PFS improvement of 13.6 months and 10.8 months, respectively.

Ledermann concludes that maintenance therapy with rucaparib may become standard of care for this patient population following a complete or partial response to second-line or later platinum-based chemotherapy.