Lynparza gets EC approval to treat advanced breast cancer

23 April 2019 | News

AstraZeneca and MSD’s Lynparza reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 42% vs. chemotherapy in Phase III OlympiAD trial

AstraZeneca and MSD Inc., have recently announced the European Commission(EC) has approved Lynparza (olaparib) as a monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with germline BRCA1/2-mutations (gBRCAm), and who have human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative locally-advanced or metastatic breast cancer.

Under the licensed indication, patients should have previously been treated with an anthracycline and a taxane in the (neo) adjuvant or metastatic setting unless they were unsuitable for these treatments. Patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer should also have progressed on or after prior endocrine therapy, or be considered unsuitable for endocrine therapy.

Dave Fredrickson, Executive Vice President, Oncology, said: “With this approval, Lynparza provides patients throughout the EU with a targeted and oral chemotherapy-free treatment option for a difficult-to-treat cancer. It also reinforces the importance of testing for biomarkers including BRCA, hormone receptor and HER2 expression, helping physicians to make the most informed treatment decisions for patients.”

Roy Baynes, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Clinical Development, Chief Medical Officer, MSD Research Laboratories, said: “In the OlympiAD trial, which supported this approval, Lynparza demonstrated a meaningful improvement in progression-free survival compared to chemotherapy in patients with germline BRCA-mutated metastatic breast cancer. We look forward to making this new option available across the EU, where we hope it will improve outcomes for many patients.”

This is the third indication for Lynparza in the EU, and AstraZeneca and MSD are working together to deliver Lynparza as quickly as possible to more patients across multiple settings. 

Comments

× Your session has been expired. Please click here to Sign-in or Sign-up
   New User? Create Account