Women with a type of ovarian cancer that is very difficult to treat have shown remarkable results on a clinical trial testing a new combination of drugs.
Almost a third (31%) of women with low-grade serous ovarian cancer, which does not respond well to chemotherapy, saw their tumours shrink or stop growing when taking a combination of avutometinib and defactinib.
The results in patients who had a mutation in a gene called KRAS were even more promising, with 44% of patients seeing their tumour shrink.
Experts are so excited by the latest findings that they hope the treatment will change practice globally for this type of cancer, and offer hope to women with no or few treatment options.
The clinical trial on the drugs is being led by Professor Susana Banerjee, consultant medical oncologist at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and from the Institute of Cancer Research, London.
She said: “These are significant results from the second phase of this trial.
“The toxicities for patients are much lower, which means side effects are fewer than with some conventional treatments.
“The combination of avutometinib and defactinib promises a new standard of care for people with recurrent low-grade serous ovarian cancer.
“We’re now looking to recruit patients for our phase three trial and hope results will continue to show better outcomes for patients.”
The drugs being used in the trial are investigational and are being developed by biotech company Verastem Oncology.
The new Ramp 201 study results, shared with the PA news agency, were presented on Thursday at the International Gynaecologic Cancer Society’s meeting in Dublin.
They showed that in 115 people with low-grade serous ovarian cancer, 31% saw their tumours shrink or stop growing on the drugs, compared to 10% or under response rate to chemotherapy or hormone therapies.
Low grade serous ovarian cancer is a rare subtype of ovarian cancer, which is more likely to affect younger women and is more resistant to chemotherapy than other types.
Many people are diagnosed when the cancer has spread, and more than 70% see their cancer come back even after standard treatment.
Both avutometinib and defactinib work by blocking signals that encourage cancer cells to grow.
In the trial, only 10% of patients quit, meaning most could tolerate the drugs and any side-effects.
