Merck & Co Inc and AstraZeneca PLC - Rahway, New Jersey and Cambridge, England-based pharmaceutical firms - Report positive long-term results from phase three OlympiA trial on the use of Lynparza, generic name olaparib, to treat germline BRCA-mutated HER2-negative high-risk early breast cancer. Data showed clinically meaningful improvements in overall survival; invasive disease-free survival and distant disease-free survival, a decrease in the rate of cancer returning and spreading to other organs. After six years, OS rate was 87.5% compared to 83.2% in the placebo group, IDFS rate was 79.6% compared to 70.3% in placebo and DDFS was 83.5% compared to 75.7% in placebo. Lynparza is being jointly developed and commercialized by AstraZeneca and Merck and has been approved in the US, EU and Japan, among others. The EU indication also includes patients with locally advanced breast cancer.

Co-principal investigator Judy Garber comments: ‘These exciting long-term data from OlympiA confirm that adjuvant treatment with olaparib for one year continues to deliver clinically meaningful survival benefit for patients with germline BRCA-mutated high-risk HER2-negative early breast cancer even after six years, with benefit persisting in all subgroups and with toxicity and pregnancy data reassuring for this generally younger group. These data reinforce the importance of germline BRCA testing at the time of diagnosis, so we can identify all eligible patients who may benefit from treatment with olaparib as early as possible.’

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