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Olaparib Improves Survival in High Risk Early-Stage Breast Cancer


Olaparib reduced the risk for death by a third among patients with germline BRCA-mutated, HER2-negative, high-risk, early-stage breast cancer compared with placebo, according to a press release, citing findings from a recent phase 3 trial. 

Patients assigned to olaparib faced a 32% reduced risk for death compared to those assigned to placebo when researchers evaluated overall survival, a key secondary outcome of the study (HR = 0.68; 98.5% CI, 0.47-0.97; P = .009).  

The olaparib group also demonstrated a 92.8% survival rate (95% CI, 90.8-94.4), versus 89.1% (95% CI, 86.7-91) in the placebo group.  

The four-year survival rate was 89.8% (95% CI, 87.2-91.9) for olaparib, compared with 86.4% (95% CI, 83.6-88.7) for the placebo group.  

However, the press release noted that the study “was not powered to assess a statistical difference between treatment groups at these timepoints.” 

Overall, about 10% of patients discontinued the study drug because of adverse reactions. 
 
“OlympiA has now shown that olaparib not only reduced the risk of recurrence, but also improved overall survival for women with high risk early-stage breast cancer and a BRCA1/2 mutation and is an exciting demonstration of the benefits of targeting the specific biology of disease for these women,” according to Andrew Tutt, global chair of the OlympiA trial and professor of oncology, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and King’s College London, in the release.  
 
 
Disclosures: Baynes is an employee of Merck. Tutt declared financial ties to drugmakers. See full study for details. 

Reference: 
https://www.merck.com/news/lynparza-olaparib-reduced-risk-of-death-by-32-in-patients-with-germline-brca-mutated-her2-negative-high-risk-early-breast-cancer-in-phase-3-olympia-trial/ 


By Andrew John, MD /alert Contributor 

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