ICARE Social Media Post January 2020

Advances in Treatment for Pancreatic Cancer in BRCA Carriers

The FDA approved the use of olaparib, a PARP inhibitor, as first-line maintenance treatment in BRCA1/2 carriers with metastatic, platinum-sensitive, pancreatic cancer.

Platinum-sensitive cancer is a cancer that responds to treatment with drugs that contain the metal platinum, such as carboplatin or cisplatin. Olaparib showed to nearly double the progression-free survival in BRCA1/2 carriers with metastatic pancreatic cancer.

The recent FDA approval to use olaparib as first-line maintenance treatment for BRCA carriers with metastatic pancreatic cancer represents another strategy to improve treatment of pancreatic cancer. It also demonstrates the importance of genetic testing for ALL patients with pancreatic cancer (because it will tell us who has a BRCA mutation, which may then make them eligible for PARP inhibitor treatment).

Check out the articles at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Maintenance+Olaparib+for+Germline+BRCA-Mutated+Metastatic+Pancreatic+Cancer

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https://www.healio.com/hematology-oncology/gastrointestinal-cancer/news/online/%7B3235fd91-3983-444f-b51e-39a111619a12%7D/maintenance-olaparib-significantly-delays-progression-of-brca–mutated-pancreatic-cancer

Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/post1320/