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Women with advanced ovarian cancer survive longer when treated with paclitaxel (Taxol) and cisplatin than with cyclophosphamide-cisplatin therapy

October 19, 2002

Embargoed for release:      
Tuesday 22 October, 09.30 (Europe), 08.30 (GMT)
               
Women with advanced ovarian cancer survive longer when treated with Taxol (paclitaxel) and cisplatin than with cyclophosphamide-cisplatin therapy

-- Survival results updated from the EORTC 55931 Intergroup Trial --

Nice, European Society for Medical Oncology, 22 October 2002 - Women with advanced ovarian cancer (AOC) have a 34% chance of long-term survival when treated with a combination of Taxol and cisplatin (TP) compared to those treated with a combination of cyclophosphamide-cisplatin (CP), who experienced a 23% survival rate after 6.5 years of follow-up.

These new data were presented for the first time today on 680 women from the EORTC 55931 trial Intergroup Trial1 who were followed-up for a total of 6.5 years, another 3.5 years after closure of the study. Dr Martine J. Piccart, MD, PhD, Jules Bordet Institute, Brussels, Belgium, is enthusiastic about these results "When we completed the Intergroup trial in 1997 we were pleased with the main results of an additional overall survival of 10 months with the Taxol combination, a significant finding for patients who have a life expectancy that is very low. So when we see that 34% of our patients are still alive after 6.5 years we are obviously encouraged by these results."

The long-term survival results from this trial confirm the superiority of the TP regimen over CP already seen in a similarly designed trial, GOG-111, completed in the early 1990s. After 6.5 years follow-up survival was extended by more than 50% with the Taxol combination (27% of patients receiving TP were still alive, compared to 16% on the CP regimen). The excitement following the original presentation of the results from both of these studies led to the immediate adoption of the TP combination as the standard first-line treatment for women with advanced ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer is the sixth most common cancer among women worldwide and the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths in women. Globally almost a quarter of a million women are diagnosed with the disease each year, and 115,000 die due to ovarian cancer.   One out of 57 women will develop ovarian cancer during her lifetime. It is often called the silent killer because its symptoms can be subtle, leading to a delayed diagnosis and poorer prognosis, and only 25% of cases are diagnosed in the early stages. However, if ovarian cancer is detected early, the five-year survival rate is approximately 95%.5

Professor Jan B Vermorken, MD, PhD, Chairman of the Gynaecologic Cancer Intergroup, whose aims include promotion of international cooperation and the support of educational activity, puts these results into perspective "Early diagnosis of ovarian cancer is hard and the majority of patients already have advanced stage disease when they see their doctor. We have seen in the GOG-111 and the Intergroup trials that we can prolong the life of these patients by 10 or 13 months, an important window of hope for women and one that radically changed treatment guidelines. To see that 34% of patients are still alive after 6.5 years can only bring additional optimism to patients and doctors that we are a step nearer in fighting this deadly disease through the use of the best possible treatments."

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