Patients with platinum-sensitive relapsed (PSR) serous ovarian cancer (SOC) have poor survival outcomes, with the median progression-free survival (PFS) after chemotherapy less than six months in many patients.

Based on results from the SOLO2 study that found that maintenance olaparib after response to chemotherapy resulted in a significant improvement in PFS compared to placebo (median PFS = 19.1 versus 5.5 months) in patients with germline BRCA mutation PSR SOC (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.30; 95% CI = 0.22–0.41; p < 0.0001), researchers assessed the impact of health-related quality-of-life (HRQOL). The researchers presented the study at the ASCO Annual Meeting.

They assessed HRQOL with the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Ovarian Trial Outcome Index, which measures functional and physical well-being and symptoms, including adverse events. A total of 295 patients were assessed at baseline through 12 months for a change in score (primary endpoint).

Olaparib did not have a significantly detrimental effect on HRQOL compared to placebo. Change in FACT-O TOI score from baseline was –3.1 for olaparib and –2.9 for placebo (95% CI = –2.4–2.1; p = 0.88).

Olaparib significantly improved time without symptoms of disease or toxicity (13.5 months) compared to placebo (7.2 months; 95% CI = 2.9–8.6; p < 0.001) as well as quality-adjusted PFS (mean = 14.0 versus 7.3 months; 95% CI = 5.0–8.5; p < 0.0001).

“The significant improvement in PFS with olaparib was associated with additional patient-centered benefits, including a longer duration without symptoms of disease or treatment toxicity and longer quality-adjusted PFS,” the authors concluded.