TGA (Australia) approves Zejula for ovarian cancer providing another option for newly diagnosed women with this deadly disease.
This is currently the only PARP inhibitor approved by the TGA as a monotherapy for newly diagnosed women with advanced ovarian cancer who respond to platinum-based chemotherapy, regardless of whether or not they have a BRCA mutation.
Zejula is a poly ADP-ribose polymerase inhibitor (more commonly known as a PARP inhibitor), which works by stopping proteins in our body from repairing ovarian cancer cells, causing them to die - which then helps to control the cancer.
“In order for women with advanced ovarian cancer to access a PARP inhibitor in Australia, their ovarian cancer must have responded to their initial chemotherapy and they need to have undergone testing to identify their BRCA mutation status” said Professor Clare Scott, Medical Oncologist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. “Only about 25% of those women have the BRCA mutation that will allow them to move onto an existing PARP inhibitor – meaning 75% of women after chemotherapy are left waiting with limited treatment options. With Zejula, all women whose cancers respond to chemotherapy now have the consideration of a PARP inhibitor. A larger proportion of these women will now be able to access this therapy that may delay their cancer from getting worse."