Dr. Rao on the Rationale of the CASPAR Trial in mCRPC

Arpit Rao, MD, associate professor, medical oncology, Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, discusses the rationale and importance of the phase 3 CASPAR trial (NCT04455750) in castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

The randomized, phase 3 trial is examining the combination of rucaparib (Rubraca) and enzalutamide (Xtandi) therapy vs enzalutamide monotherapy in the first line for patients mCRPC, Rao explains. The addition of androgen-receptor inhibition with PARP therapy, induces synthetic lethality, a state where cells become acutely sensitive to any damage to their DNA, such as cellular death, Rao says.

Moreover, findings from a recent phase 2 trial, which examined abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) and olaparib (Lynparza), produced a signal of efficacy for the first time in this patient population, leading to the inception of the CASPAR trial, Rao concludes.