Dr Andreas du Bois presents data on a phase III clinical trial in women with advanced ovarian cancer at the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago.

The Study found that treatment with the oral targeted drug pazopanib following initial successful chemotherapy extends disease-free survival by an average of 5.6 months, compared to placebo.

Advanced ovarian cancer is an aggressive disease with a cure rate of only 20-25 percent. Despite successful initial treatment with surgery and chemotherapy, about 70 percent of patients with advanced ovarian cancer experience a relapse, half in the first year. Upon relapse, patients have to resume aggressive treatments. At this time, there is no test available to predict a patient’s risk for relapse, so a maintenance therapy such as this one would be used for most patients.

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