Clovis Oncology's rucaparib achieves positive Phase II results

Personalized cancer therapy specialist Clovis Oncology (Nasdaq: CLVS) has reported positive results in a Phase II trial of rucaparib in ovarian cancer patients with tumor BRCA mutations.

The US biotech company’s ARIEL 2 study is the first and only trial designed to prospectively look at predicting response in women with platinum-sensitive, relapsed ovarian cancer with BRCAness/BRCA-like mutations, and showed an overall response rate of 70% in BRCA-mutant patients. The overall response rate in patients with BRCAness signature was 40%, and there were no drug discontinuations due to treatment-related adverse events.

The data suggest that platinum sensitivity alone does not predict which patients will benefit from rucaparib, and suggest that clinicians and patients will benefit from applying a molecular analysis to determine the best treatment options in women with ovarian cancer.