Mike Mitchell, an analyst at Panmure Gordon, said the study demonstrated that prostate cancers with specific mutations can be targeted and treated. 14 out of 16 of the men in the sample who had specific DNA fix mutations responded very well to the drug and survived for much longer than they were expected to do so.
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Dr Áine McCarthy, science information officer at Cancer Research United Kingdom – which part-funded the study – said the results were “exciting”, and that the approach could offer new treatment options for men who have stopped responding to other therapies.
The trial, led by experts at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, is a milestone in cancer treatment as the first to show the benefits of “precision medicine” in prostate cancer – with treatment matched to the particular genetic characteristics of a man’s tumour.
The scientists behind the study, from the Institute of Cancer Research in London, hailed the results as a “significant step”, but said a longer clinical trial involving a larger number of people must now take place.
Olaparib, a type of drug called a PARP inhibitor, was approved past year by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for women with ovarian cancer that is associated with defective BRCA genes.
A second stage of the trial is now planned which will only recruit men with prostate cancer who have similar detectable gene defects. Levels of PSA – the blood marker used to track the progress of prostate cancer – also dropped by up to 96 percent.
English rationing watchdog Nice – the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence – is due to make a final decision on the drug later this year, but in two draft documents issued in June and September it said that NHS England should not pay for it.
Their study, the authors conclude, provides hope for molecular stratification-based treatment of prostate cancer.
Treatment for men in the trial was given with olaparib, a drug originally developed for ovarian cancer.
Separate olaparib trials have also showed promise for women with breast cancer.
The findings are published in the New England Journal of Medicine and received funding from sources including Cancer Research United Kingdom, Prostate Cancer United Kingdom and the Movember Foundation.
More than 41,700 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year in the United Kingdom and nearly 11,000 die from this disease.
Olaparib, produced under the trade name Lynparza, will now be tested again and could become a standard treatment for advanced prostate cancer.
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“Although it’s still early days, this drug has already been approved for use for other cancers, so it’s more likely it will get into the hands of the men who need it more quickly if it’s proven to be successful in further trials”.
