Japan Approves AstraZeneca, Merek's Lynparza for Advanced Ovarian Cancer

AstraZeneca and Merck announced that the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has approved Lynparza (olaparib) tablets (300mg twice daily) for use as a maintenance therapy for patients with platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer, regardless of their BRCA mutation status, who responded to their last platinum-based chemotherapy. Lynparza is the first poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor to be approved in Japan.

Dave Fredrickson, Executive Vice President, Head of the Oncology Business Unit at AstraZeneca, said: “We are proud to bring this important first-in-class treatment to women with platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer in Japan who currently have very few treatment options. The trials show that with Lynparza maintenance therapy, women with ovarian cancer can live longer without their disease worsening and Lynparza is well tolerated.”

Roy Baynes, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Clinical Development, Chief Medical Officer, MSD Research Laboratories, said: “Today’s decision is significant for Lynparza and, more importantly, for Japanese patients living with advanced ovarian cancer. Our global collaboration with AstraZeneca reinforces how our joint efforts can advance science for patients, and we look forward to working together to explore the potential of Lynparza across multiple tumour types.”

The approval was granted on the basis of two randomised trials of Lynparza maintenance therapy for platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer, SOLO-2 and Study 19.

In SOLO-2, the most common adverse drug reactions (≥20%) of any grade reported in patients in the Lynparza arm were nausea (66.7%), anaemia (39.0%), fatigue (29.7%), vomiting (25.6%), asthenia (24.1%) and dysgeusia (23.1%).

In Study 19, the most common adverse drug reactions (≥20%) of any grade reported in patients in the Lynparza arm were nausea (64.0%), fatigue (43.4%) and vomiting (21.3%).

Lynparza is also currently under review for use in unresectable or recurrent BRCA-mutated, HER2-negative breast cancer in Japan, with a decision expected in the second half of 2018 based upon a priority review.