A drug already used to treat a rare disease could prolong the lives of women with aggressive ovarian cancer, a pivotal trial has found.
The drug, relacorilant, was found to be far more effective than existing treatments, extending the lives of patients by 35 per cent – buying them precious time with loved ones.
Experts say that the pill, typically prescribed for Cushing’s syndrome – a condition caused by having too much of the hormone cortisol in the body – also has fewer side effects than current ovarian cancer treatment, and can be taken at home.
On average, patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer only live for around one year after diagnosis.
Women are deemed to have this type of disease if their cancer progresses within six months of having platinum-based chemotherapy.
It’s challenging to treat and often incurable, with patients living for around a year after diagnosis.
But, in the trial – presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology’s annual meeting in Suan Juan – researchers found that patients who took relacorilant plus usual treatment, lived four months longer than women only receiving usual care.
The study, which was also published in The Lancet, examined data on 381 platinum-resistant ovarian cancer patients.
Women given relacorilant with the chemotherapy drug nab-paclitaxel lived for an average of 16 months, compared to 11.9 months for those who had nab-paclitaxel.
Writing in the Lancet, the researchers said: “These outcomes — a 35 per cent reduction of the risk of death from any cause and a median overall survival improvement of 4.1 months — position relacorilant plus nab-paclitaxel as a new standard treatment option for patients.”
“These tumours eventually become resistant to chemotherapy and providing oncologists with relacorilant plus nab-paclitaxel could greatly benefit patients.”
It comes as US medicines regulator the Food and Drug Administration approved the new therapy combination in the US late last month, for patients that have had at least one round of treatment already.
Ovarian cancer is the sixth most common cancer in the UK.
The disease kills around 11 women every day in Britain, on average, or 4,000 a year.
It is often diagnosed late because symptoms are vague and can include indigestion, pelvic or abdominal pain, loss of appetite, constipation, and needing to urinate more often.
Around 93 per cent of women diagnosed live five years or more if it’s spotted at the earliest stage, compared with just 13 per cent diagnosed at stage four.
About a fifth of women with ovarian cancer are also diagnosed in A&E, often when it is too late for any treatment.
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