AstraZeneca, which manufactures the drug with MSD, has an early access scheme which allows patients to get the drug via their doctor while it goes through the approval process.
Researchers on the OlympiA trial studied 1,836 patients with HER-2 negative breast cancer who also had a mutation in their BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes and who had undergone standard treatment, including surgery, chemotherapy, hormonal therapies and radiotherapy.
The patients, who were recruited at hundreds of locations around the world, were randomly allocated to receive either 300mg twice a day of olaparib or a placebo for one year, and are still being followed up several years later.
Professor Andrew Tutt, from the Institute of Cancer Research London (ICR), was chairman of the steering committee for the study, and also involved in early laboratory research on this type of drug.
Source: | This article first appeared on Express.co.uk
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