Cancer drug with new process on slowing DNA repair shows promise in trial

In its first randomised clinical trial, investigators report a drug that targets a protein needed by cancer cells to maintain their dogged growth and division has shown considerable promise in combination with chemotherapy in patients with a common form of ovarian cancer.

The clinical trial led by investigators at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute was detailed in the journal The Lancet Oncology.

Patients with high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) who were treated with the drug, berzosertib, and chemotherapy lived substantially longer before their disease began to worsen than did those treated with chemotherapy alone. The findings may set the stage for testing berzosertib