N Engl J Med 2019 12;381(25):2416-2428
From Centre Léon Bérard (I.R.-C., D.P.), University Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (I.R.-C.), and Centre Hospitalier Lyon-Sud (B.Y.), Lyon, Groupe d'Investigateurs Nationaux pour l'Etude des Cancers Ovariens (GINECO) (I.R.-C., P.P., F.S., C.L.-P., A.L., P.C., M.R., C.D., B.Y., E.P.-L.), Groupe Hospitalier Diaconesses Croix Saint-Simon (F.S.), Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou (P.C.), Institut Curie, Hôpital Claudius Régaud (M.R.), and Association de Recherche Cancers Gynécologiques (ARCAGY) (E.P.-L.), Paris, Gustave Roussy, Villejuif (P.P.), Centre Eugène Marquis, Rennes (C.L.-P.), Centre Catherine de Sienne Hôpital Privé du Confluent, Nantes (A.L.), and Institut Curie, Hôpital René Huguenin, Saint Cloud (C.D.) - all in France; the Department of Urology and Gynecology, Istituto Nazionale Tumori IRCCS Fondazione G. Pascale, and Multicenter Italian Trials in Ovarian Cancer and Gynecologic Malignancies (MITO), Naples (S.P.), University of Milan-Bicocca and European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, and Mario Negri Gynecologic Oncology Group (MANGO) (N.C.), and Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori and MITO (D.L.), Milan, and Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Università Cattolica, and MITO, Rome (G.S.) - all in Italy; M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Madrid (A.G.-M.), Grupo Español de Investigación en Cáncer de Ovario (GEICO) (A.G.-M., E.M.G.A.), and Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal (E.M.G.A.) - all in Madrid; Medical University of Innsbruck, University Clinic for Gynecology and Obstetrics (R.B.), and Arbeitsgemeinschaft Gynäkologische Onkologie Study Group (AGO)-Austria (R.B., A.R.), Innsbruck, and Medical University of Vienna, Vienna (A.R.) - all in Austria; Saitama Medical University International Medical Center, Hidaka (K.F.), Gynecologic Oncology Trial and Investigation Consortium (GOTIC), Moroyama-cho (K.F., S.N.), and Hyogo Cancer Center, Akashi (S.N.) - all in Japan; University Hospital Leuven, Leuven Cancer Institute, and Belgium and Luxembourg Gynecologic Oncology Group (BGOG) - both in Leuven, Belgium (I.V.); Tampere University and University Hospital, Tampere, Finland (J.M.); the Nordic Society of Gynecologic Oncology (NSGO), Copenhagen (J.M.); and Charité-Medical University of Berlin (Campus Virchow Klinikum), Berlin (J.S.), German Society of Gynecologic Oncology (AGO) (J.S., U.C., F.M., N.G., P.B., A.B., P.H.), Universitätsklinikum Essen (P.B.), and Kliniken Essen Mitte (P.H.), Essen, Universitätsklinikum Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden (U.C.), Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg, Heidelberg (F.M.), Universitätsklinikum Ulm, Ulm (N.G.), and Klinikum der Universität München, Munich (A.B.) - all in Germany.
Background: Olaparib has shown significant clinical benefit as maintenance therapy in women with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer with a mutation. The effect of combining maintenance olaparib and bevacizumab in patients regardless of mutation status is unknown.
Methods: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, international phase 3 trial. Eligible patients had newly diagnosed, advanced, high-grade ovarian cancer and were having a response after first-line platinum-taxane chemotherapy plus bevacizumab. Patients were eligible regardless of surgical outcome or mutation status. Patients were randomly assigned in a 2:1 ratio to receive olaparib tablets (300 mg twice daily) or placebo for up to 24 months; all the patients received bevacizumab at a dose of 15 mg per kilogram of body weight every 3 weeks for up to 15 months in total. The primary end point was the time from randomization until investigator-assessed disease progression or death.
Results: Of the 806 patients who underwent randomization, 537 were assigned to receive olaparib and 269 to receive placebo. After a median follow-up of 22.9 months, the median progression-free survival was 22.1 months with olaparib plus bevacizumab and 16.6 months with placebo plus bevacizumab (hazard ratio for disease progression or death, 0.59; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.49 to 0.72; P<0.001). The hazard ratio (olaparib group vs. placebo group) for disease progression or death was 0.33 (95% CI, 0.25 to 0.45) in patients with tumors positive for homologous-recombination deficiency (HRD), including tumors that had mutations (median progression-free survival, 37.2 vs. 17.7 months), and 0.43 (95% CI, 0.28 to 0.66) in patients with HRD-positive tumors that did not have mutations (median progression-free survival, 28.1 vs. 16.6 months). Adverse events were consistent with the established safety profiles of olaparib and bevacizumab.
Conclusions: In patients with advanced ovarian cancer receiving first-line standard therapy including bevacizumab, the addition of maintenance olaparib provided a significant progression-free survival benefit, which was substantial in patients with HRD-positive tumors, including those without a mutation. (Funded by ARCAGY Research and others; PAOLA-1 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02477644.).