Selumetinib is first drug to help patients with recurrent low-grade ovarian cancer

In the first-targeted therapy clinical trial for low-grade serous ovarian cancer, eight of 52 (15%) patients had a complete or objective partial response (tumor shrinkage) and 34 (65%) had no disease progression during the two-year course of the study. Results of the Phase II clinical trial, in which the drug selumetinib was evaluated by the National Cancer Institute's Gynecological Oncology Group, appear in the February edition of The Lancet Oncology.

"These are remarkably encouraging results for what can ultimately be a devastating disease," said David Gershenson, professor in The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Department of Gynecological Oncology and Reproductive Medicine, and the paper's senior author.

These patients have a median overall survival of 80 months, about twice as long as those with high-grade disease, who are typically in their 60s when diagnosed and comprise 90% of ovarian cancer patients. The average age of women with low-grade cancer falls in the early 40s, Gershenson said, and it's not uncommon to see women in their 20s, 30s and 40s and the occasional teenager with the disease.