Ovarian Cancer

The American Cancer Society estimates that approximately 22,000 women a year will be newly diagnosed with ovarian cancer and approximately 14,000 women will die from the disease in the U.S. each year.1

Ovarian cancers are commonly treated with chemotherapy regimens; however, nearly 75% of ovarian cancer patients who respond to initial treatment will relapse within 18 months. Chemo-resistant ovarian cancer has a median survival of 9–12 months and less than 15% respond to subsequent chemotherapy.2

Promising results from recent clinical trials show that PARP inhibitors benefit women with both treatment-resistant and newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer.3 Unfortunately, the emergence of resistance to PARP inhibitors is nearly ubiquitous in ovarian cancer, particularly following long-term treatment.4 In an effort to overcome treatment resistance, PARP inhibitors have been combined with other agents, but multi-drug combinations often have proven to be toxic thereby limiting their clinical utility.5