Pancreatic cancer is difficult to treat. While precision has helped make significant strides in improved overall survival in other cancers, pancreatic cancer has been left behind. This week, Astra Zeneca and Merck’s Lynparza, a drug that targets the BRCA mutation,...
Pancreatic cancer is difficult to treat. While precision has helped make significant strides in improved overall survival in other cancers, pancreatic cancer has been left behind.
This week, Astra Zeneca and Merck’s Lynparza, a drug that targets the BRCA mutation, was cleared by the FDA. The BRCA mutation is found in breast and ovarian cancers. A small subset of pancreatic cancers carry this mutation too – it is this subset of patients that Lynparza will benefit from.
A study found that patients that were treated with Lynparza had almost 2-fold increase in disease-free progression compared with patients that received the placebo. However, the study only included patients that had shown previous response (i.e. no progression of the disease) after platinum-based chemotherapy. In addition, no benefit to overall survival was found in patients receiving Lynparza versus placebo.
The big picture: BRCA mutation is present in only 5-7% of patients with pancreatic cancer. Therefore, Lynparza is likely to benefit only a small subset of metastatic pancreatic cancer patients. In addition, previous studies have included only patients who have had objective response to chemotherapy, to begin with. Therefore, there is no underlying data that suggests Lynparza maybe effective in BRCA+ refractory pancreatic tumors. Regardless, the FDA clearance of Lynparza does provide relief to a specific subset of pancreatic cancer patients and provides Astra Zeneca with another revenue stream for one of its fast-growing drugs.