Video: Olaparib + Zytiga for Metastatic Castrate-Resistant Prostate Cancer | Learn About Clinical Trials

Learn About Clinical Trials | Transcription

Hi, I'm Dr. Scholz. Let's talk about another clinical trial.

Today I want to cover a clinical trial measuring the efficacy or the activity of an oral agent called "olaparib" otherwise known as Lynparza. Lynparza is a medication that is used to treat ovarian cancer. It's already FDA approved for that purpose, but its activity in prostate cancer seems very interesting as well, especially in people with BRCA mutations. Lynparza, in this trial, is going to be administered to men who have become resistant to Lupron. It's called castrate-resistant. I don't like that term, but it basically means Lupron resistant. So Lupron resistance means a rising PSA with a low testosterone and it's a serious development. Prostate cancer, men with newly diagnosed or relapsed disease, can often go into remissions for 10 or more years just with Lupron, but when the Lupron stops working we're looking at a serious—a very serious—development.

Lynparza has been shown to have activity in prostate cancer with a specific mutation called BRCA. This is a common mutation also in breast cancer. And so, what's interesting is that some studies are showing that Lymparza has activity in people without that mutation—people with prostate cancer without that mutation. So in this particular study, the researchers want to evaluate if adding Lynparza (or olaparib) to abiraterone, otherwise known as Zytiga, can improve survival and response rates. 

I think this is a very good place to be testing this type of a medicine. Lynparza is sort of a—even though it's a pill—it's got some chemotherapy type side effects. It can lower blood counts, it can cause fatigue. So it's not something that you want to use in just anybody with prostate cancer. You want to use it, since it has side effects, in a situation where it's really needed and people that have become resistant to Lupron need everything they can get. As you probably know, there's a number of effective medicines besides abiraterone for this kind of a situation (otherwise known as Zytiga)—Xtandi, Nubeqa, Erleada, Taxotere, Jevtana, there's Provenge. There's a lot of different medicines to be considered. All of them can help prolong life, but none of them cure the disease. 

In this particular trial, 700 plus men are going to be randomly allocated to either getting Zytiga with a sugar pill that looks like olaparib, or Zytiga plus olaparib. And then they'll follow these two groups over time and see if the group of men that are getting olaparib live longer, have higher response rates, less pain, better outcomes. 

For more information about this trial you can go to the PCRI website, PCRI.org, click on the tab that says "our services," and there'll be a drop-down menu that says "clinical trials," and then you'll be able to get the details and the information that you need if you want to sign up for this particular study.