A trial of different treatments for women who have ovarian cancer (OCTOVA)

Cancer type:

Ovarian cancer

Status:

Results

Phase:

Phase 2

This trial was for women whose platinum chemotherapy Open a glossary item had stopped working.

It was for women with one of the following cancers:

ovarian cancer
primary peritoneal cancer
fallopian tube cancer

These cancers are treated in a similar way. When we use the term ovarian cancer in this summary, we are referring to all 3.

The trial was open for women to join between 2017 and 2020. The team published the results in 2024.

Cancer Research UK supported this trial.

More about this trial

A platinum chemotherapy drug Open a glossary item is usual treatment for ovarian cancer. Doctors can use another chemotherapy drug if the platinum drug does not work. Another chemotherapy drug they can use is paclitaxel. But it might be possible to treat ovarian cancer with other cancer drugs.

In this trial, doctors looked at 2 drugs called olaparib and cediranib. Both are targeted cancer drugs Open a glossary item that work in different ways.

Olaparib is a PARP inhibitor. PARP is a protein that helps cells to repair. The researchers hoped that by stopping PARP from working, cancer cells won’t be able to repair themselves and will die.

Cediranib is tyrosine kinase inhibitor Open a glossary item . It stops cancers from being able to make new blood vessels that they need to grow. We know from research that having it with olaparib helps control the cancer for longer.

The aims of the trial were to find out:

how well olaparib works compared to paclitaxel
whether olaparib and cediranib works better than olaparib
if the targeted cancer drugs cause fewer side effects and improve quality of life

Summary of results

This trial showed that olaparib with cediranib might be a possible treatment option for ovarian cancer that has come back.

Results

This was a randomised trial Open a glossary item that 139 women took part in. There were 3 treatment groups.

46 women were to have paclitaxel. Of these 44 did have paclitaxel.
46 women were to have olaparib. Of these 44 women did have olaparib.
47 women were to have olaparib and cediranib. Of these 45 did have olaparib and cediranib.

Those who had paclitaxel could move to the olaparib group, if their cancer started to get worse. This happened for 29 of the women who had paclitaxel.

The trial team looked at how long it was before cancer started to grow again in these women. They found that it was just under:

4 months for those who had paclitaxel
4 months for those who had olaparib
5 ½ months for those who had olaparib and cediranib

How well treatment worked
After completing treatment, the trial team looked at how well each treatment worked.

They were able to do this for 42 women in the paclitaxel group. They found that the cancer:

got smaller in 15 women (33%)
stayed the same in 14 women (30%)
continued to grow in 13 women (28%)

The trial team were able to look at how well treatment worked for 40 women in the olaparib group. They found that:

there was no sign of cancer in 1 woman (2%)
the cancer got smaller in 6 women (13%)
the cancer stayed the same in 19 women (41%)
the cancer continued to grow in 14 women (30%)

The trial team were able to look at how well treatment worked for 42 women in the olaparib and cediranib group. They found that the cancer:

got smaller in 6 women (13%)
stayed the same in 25 women (56%)
continued to grow in 11 women (23%)

Side effects
Those in the olaparib and cediranib group had more side effects than the other 2 groups. But they were mostly mild or moderate. The side effects were:

diarrhoea
high blood pressure
feeling sick
a drop in the red blood cells (anaemia )

The most common side effects of paclitaxel were:

hair loss
nerve changes

The most common side effect of olaparib was anaemia.

In our Cancer drugs section, we have more information about the side effects of:

Conclusion
The trial team concluded that olaparib with cediranib offers another treatment option, other than chemotherapy, for ovarian cancer that had come back.

More detailed information
There is more information about this research in the reference below.

Please note, the information we link to here is not in plain English. It has been written for healthcare professionals and researchers.

Results of a randomised Phase II trial of olaparib, chemotherapy or olaparib and cediranib in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer
S Nicum and others
British Journal of Cancer, 2024. Issue 130, pages 941 to 950.

Where this information comes from
We have based this summary on the information in the article above. This has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed Open a glossary item ) and published in a medical journal. We have not analysed the data ourselves. As far as we are aware, the link we list above is active and the article is free and available to view.