New drug shows promise for recurrent ovarian cancer

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CANCER DIGEST – June 22, 2014 – Women treated with a new type of drug halted their recurrent ovarian cancer significantly longer than women treated with a standard chemotherapy treatment, according to a new report in the June 19, Lancet Oncology. The doctors at the University of Arizona Cancer Center published data from 919 women with recurrent ovarian cancer treated at 179 cancer centers in 32 countries. The drug, called Trebananib is a first-in-class agent that prevents two proteins from binding to a tumor cell receptor that triggers the process of angiogenesis, or growing blood vessels needed for  tumor growth. Women in the trial who received the drug plus paclitaxel had disease progression halt for an average of 7.2 months compared to 5.4 months for women treated with paclitaxel. Previous anti-angiogenesis drugs, like bevacizumab (Avastin^®), block a growth factor (VEGF) needed for blood vessel growth.  

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