AstraZeneca's drug for inherited cancer shows positive results in prostate cancer trials

Anglo-Swedish pharma major AstraZeneca’s (LSE: AZN) drug to treat women with genetic cancers can also benefit men with advanced prostate cancer, according to a new research.

Olaparib, trade name Lynpoarza, the world’s first drug to reach the market targeted against inherited cancer mutations, was found to benefit as many as a third of patients with prostate cancer, including many who did not inherit cancer genes but whose tumours had acquired defects in DNA repair.

An international consortium of researchers, led by experts at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, published the trial’s findings in the New England Journal of Medicine.