“IQWIG Confirms Added Benefit in Overall Survival for Non-Pretreated Under-65s with Olaparib: Elderly Patients and Previously Treated Patients Show Less Benefit, Reports Highlight Heterogeneous Picture of Health-Related Quality of Life and Side Effects.”

2023-04-19 09:15:00

Under 65 years and not previously treated

Non-pretreated under-65s can expect a minor added benefit from olaparib compared with an appropriate comparator therapy: IQWIG confirms an added benefit in overall survival for this patient group. Elderly people without previous treatment have less benefit from the drug. “There is no survival advantage for older patients, but there is a hint of a minor additional benefit in symptomatic skeletal events,” writes the IQWIG. The report is silent on previously treated patients because meaningful data are missing. The manufacturer did not provide any visible information on this.

A heterogeneous picture emerged in terms of health-related quality of life and side effects: depending on which organs were affected by metastases at the start of the study, the poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor had positive or negative effects.

Irrespective of the age and location of the metastases, there were more serious adverse events and treatment discontinuations due to side effects with olaparib. For example, severe pulmonary embolism and blood count changes occurred.