The Food and Drug Administration has approved the PARP inhibitor olaparib for the treatment of patients with germline BRCA-positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer who have previously received chemotherapy.
This is the first PARP inhibitor approved to treat breast cancer and the first approval for treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer who have a BRCA gene mutation, the FDA said in a press statement.
The FDA also expanded approval of the companion diagnostic, BRACAnalysis CDx, to include the detection of BRCA mutations in blood samples from patients with breast cancer.
A capsule form of olaparib (Lynparza) was first approved in 2014 for the treatment of patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline BRCA-mutated advanced ovarian cancer who have been treated with three or more prior lines of chemotherapy. In August 2017, the FDA granted regular approval to olaparib tablets for the maintenance treatment of adult patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer, who are in a complete or partial response to platinum-based chemotherapy. Olaparib tablets and capsules are not interchangeable. Olaparib capsules are being phased out of the U.S. market and will be available only through the Lynparza Specialty Pharmacy Network, the FDA said.
Approval for the treatment of breast cancer was based on a 2.8 month improvement in progression-free survival with olaparib vs standard chemotherapy in the phase 3 OlympiAD trial of 302 previously treated patients with BRCA-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. Results of the trial were presented at ASCO 2017 and simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine (N Engl J Med. 2017 Jun 4. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1706450).
Common side effects of olaparib include anemia, neutropenia, leukopenia, nausea, fatigue, vomiting, nasopharyngitis, respiratory tract infection, influenza, diarrhea, arthralgia/myalgia, dysgeusia, headache, dyspepsia, decreased appetite, constipation and stomatitis.
Severe side effects include development of myelodysplastic syndrome/acute myeloid leukemia and pneumonitis. Women should be advised of the potential risk to the fetus and to use effective contraception, the FDA said.
The FDA granted the approval of olaparib to AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP and the approval of the BRACAnalysis CDx to Myriad Genetic Laboratories, Inc.