Kim Reiss, MD
PHILADELPHIA More than two-thirds of pancreatic cancer patients harboring genetic mutations saw their tumor stop growing or shrink substantially after being switched from intensive chemotherapy to the PARP inhibitor rucaparib as a maintenance therapy, researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania reported online today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The results from the phase II trial at the ACC support the use rucaparib for pancreatic cancer patients with BRCA1, BRCA2, and PALB2 variants to help control tumor growth without the aggressive side effects of chemotherapy.
Rucaparib a targeted therapy in pill form is currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a maintenance therapy for patients with recurrent ovarian and fallopian tube cancer and prostate cancer, but not pancreatic cancer.