AstraZeneca's Camille Hertzka Discusses Interim PROpel Trial Findings in mCRPC

The ongoing PROpel trial investigated olaparib (Lynparza; AstraZeneca, Merck Sharp & Dohme) plus abiraterone (Zytiga; Janssen) vs abiraterone alone in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, a patient group with a low 5-year survival rate who typically receives just 1 line of active treatment. The results presented at this year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (ASCO GU) demonstrate the combination’s quality-of-life and radiographic progression-free survival (rPFS) benefits; chiefly that it reduced risk of the latter by 34%. Overall rPFS was 24.8 vs 16.6 months, respectively, and there was a trend toward improved overall survival.

The American Journal of Managed Care® spoke recently with Camille Hertzka, vice president, head of oncology, US Medical, AstraZeneca, about the PROpel trial findings presented at this year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.

Transcript

Can you summarize the findings of the PROpel trial?

PROpel is a large randomized phase 3 trial, which included patients with first-line metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer, that we call mCRPC, that included a patient population which was not selected based on their HRR gene mutation status. PROpel was presented at ASCO GU and showed that olaparib in combination with abiraterone led to statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in radiographic PFS, which was a primary end point, with a reduction by 34% of the risk of disease progression or death in patients treated with olaparib and abiraterone compared to abiraterone plus placebo in the first-line setting.

Olaparib in combination with abiraterone improved radiographic PFS with a median of 8 months, extending the median rPFS for these first-line with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer patients beyond 2 years. This is the longest PFS benefit seen to date in this setting. Importantly, this PFS benefit reported for olaparib plus abiraterone was irrespective of HRR gene mutation status.

I’d like also to note that the safety profile of the combination was consistent with the safety profile of each individual drug and the quality of life was maintained in the arm with olaparib plus abiraterone.