This October a study was released by ESMO (European Society for Medical Oncology) Congress, which showed positive results to a clinical test that was conducted in Phase 3, which basically tested the PARP-inhibitor Olaparib (Lynparza) in patients with mCRPC (metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer), who possess specific alterations in their DNA strands containing the DDR (DNA damage repair) genes; this revelation will now lead to a new lead for the approval of FDA.
About 20-30% of the patients with mCRPC house these DDR gene mutations in the tumors present in their body, which is going to benefit them from PARP-inhibition. This was the first time when the test was conducted in Phase 3 using olaparib that the results showed a positive sign, suggesting that medicine could prove to be precise in some of the targeted men under therapy suffering from an advanced level of prostate cancer having specific types of gene mutations.
These PARP-inhibitors including olaparib in them are a class of therapies that have been recently approved by the FDA, which can be used in treating cancer of the breast and the ovaries having mutations in the BRCA 1 and 2 genes.