Ovarian cancer pill treatment licensed for UK

Niraparib buys more time before disease returns after chemotherapy

A “milestone” pill treatment that holds back ovarian cancer and has the potential to prolong life has been launched in the UK.

Niraparib is a PARP inhibitor belonging to a new class of drugs that target cancers with defective DNA repair systems.

Trial results have shown the oncedaily pill can buy valuable months of time before the disease returns after chemotherapy.

In some women, with an inherited BRCA gene mutation, the time to relapse was increased from 5.5 months to 21 months compared with chemotherapy alone.

Niraparib was also shown to help women without a BRCA mutation to a lesser degree, doubling the length of time before recurrence.

The drug is now licensed for use in the UK but is yet to be assessed for free availability on the NHS.

Professor Jonathan Ledermann, from the University College London Cancer Institute, said: “Niraparib is the first treatment of its class licensed to delay the progression of ovarian cancer following platinum-based chemotherapy, regardless of BRCA status.

“This represents a critical milestone in the management of ovarian cancer.

“Access to effective and tolerable medicines is sorely needed and the hope is that niraparib will be available in the NHS as quickly as possible.”

Ovarian cancer has been called a “silent killer” because it is often spotted late and at a deadly stage.

Each year around 7,400 women in the UK are diagnosed with ovarian cancer and 4,128 die from the disease. Roughly 85% of patients will experience recurrence after treatment.

Decisions about what drugs are offered to NHS patients in England and Wales follow recommendations of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which balances clinical and cost effectiveness.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium provides similar guidelines north of the border.

Katherine Taylor, chief executive of the charity Ovarian Cancer Action, said: “The outlook for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer can be bleak.

“Current treatment lags behind other and better known cancers and survival rates are low. Today’s news is an encouraging step in the right direction but we now need to ensure all UK women diagnosed with recurrent platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer can benefit.”