Dr. Tung Discusses the Role of Olaparib in Breast Cancer

Nadine M. Tung, MD, associate professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, director, Cancer Risk and Prevention Program, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Center, discusses the role of olaparib (Lynparza) in the treatment of patients with breast cancer.

The results from the OlympiAD trial led to the FDA approval of olaparib for patients with metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer who have germline BRCA mutations. Patients on the OlympiAD trial had previously seen chemotherapy in the initial setting, either in the neoadjuvant or adjuvant setting, or in the metastatic setting.

Olaparib reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 42% and improved progression-free survival (PFS) by 2.8 months versus standard chemotherapy in previously treated patients with BRCA-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. At 12 months, 25.9% of the patients in the olaparib group and 15.0% of the patients in the standard therapy group were free from progression or death. The median time from randomization to a second progression event or death after a first progression event was 13.2 months in the olaparib group and 9.3 months in the standard-therapy group (HR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.40-0.83; P = .003).