Dr. Powell Discusses Data With Immunotherapy in Ovarian Cancer

Matthew Powell, MD, associate professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Washington University School of Medicine, discusses data with immunotherapy in ovarian cancer.

There have been several phase I and phase II studies in platinum-recurrent ovarian cancer, primary peritoneal, or fallopian tube cancer, says Powell. There have been both large and small studies, with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors such as atezolizumab (Tecentriq), nivolumab (Opdivo), avelumab (Bavencio), and pembrolizumab (Keytruda). Data have shown that there are some patients who respond to these agents, and when they do respond it is a long response.

Phase II studies evaluating efficacy in the recurrent population have been disappointing thus far. The largest study to date was with pembrolizumab, which enrolled over 300 patients. The response rate in this study was about 8%, Powell says. In other studies of patients with ovarian cancer, nivolumab and avelumab showed response rates of 15% and 11%, respectively.