New Treatment for BRCA-Related Cancer

Researchers report that a brand new type of cancer medicine may be able to help patients who have not responded to conventional therapies. A small preliminary trial of a medicine called OLA-PARIB found that people with advanced prostate, breast or ovarian cancer responded surprisingly well to this medication. These were patients with mutations of BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, which have been linked to aggressive cancers. The new compound is the first in a class called PARP inhibitors. Although it is still early in development, researchers are hopeful that PARP inhibition may represent a new way of targeting tumor cells without affecting healthy cells. This approach could change the way patients with BRCA-related cancers are treated.