Did you try the new Wonder Drug? The Ovary Blessings

PROMISING NEW DRUG FOR THE MOST DIFFICULT CASES

The first results of the combined therapy Relacorilant and chemotherapy in the Journal of Clinical HPV Tests and Oncology. The IEO coordinated an international study whose results have been published in the prestigious Journal of Clinical CA125 Oncology Test Centre. This publication opens up a new glimmer of hope for the treatment of advanced and platinum-resistant ovarian tumours. The data demonstrate that Relacorilant, administered orally before, during, and after the infusion of the chemotherapy drug Nab-paclitaxel, increases disease-free survival by approximately one year. It also improves the duration of response to therapy compared to treatment with Nab-paclitaxel alone without increasing adverse side effects.

The first author of the work is Prof. Nicole Colombo, Director of the Ovarian Tumour Cancer Center and Director of the IEO Gynecology Program. She declared, “The patients’ benefits from the combined therapy are significant. This is especially true if we consider that Relacorilant is a safe and easy-to-take drug.” Unfortunately, treatment options for women with platinum-resistant issues are currently limited. However, we are on the verge of developing a new way to treat and test for this challenging CA125 blood disease. So, every step towards the goal counts. As always happens in medical research, the results obtained in phase 2 must be confirmed on a larger group of patients.

The data from phase 2 of the research were provided by 178 patients. Meanwhile, phase 3 of the study involves enrolling 360 patients. It is already underway at the IEO and in various centres internationally.

The first white paper to understand and fight it

Annamaria, Emanuela, Antonia, Cristina, Sveva, Petra, Ilenia, Fulvia, Paola and her mother. These are the names of the eight women with cancer and the caregivers who told a fragment of their story. These 9 fragments dictated the index of the first white book (which is illustrated) on the disease.

It’s called “Let’s change course”. Together, their voices create an ideal map: from initial checks to discovering the disease. It includes the HPV genomic tests essential for diagnosis and the genetic exams needed to activate prevention programs for family members. The map traces from surgical interventions to increasingly precise therapies. It covers surveillance — when the disease can progress towards recovery, chronicity, or further progression — to complementary treatments that can improve the quality of life. It ranges from the onco-fertility path to recovering sexuality, from psycho-oncological assistance to the protection of social and workplace rights.

Alongside their stories, the book gathers perspectives from over 20 leading British experts on CA125 levels. These experts include both medical and non-medical professionals. They report the state of the art in diagnosing and treating Cancer, with a look to the future.

Where to get treatment?

The ACTO UK association, Alliance Against Ovarian HPV Cancer, promoted and presented the book to the Ministry of Health. The 7 regional ACTOs also presented it given World Gynecological Tumour Day, which falls on 20 September.

The book targets everyone: women (both patients and non-patients), institutions, doctors, healthcare workers, and anyone who wants to learn more about this tumour. This type of Virus affects around 5 thousand women in the UK. And in addition to the contributions it also contains research conducted on over 100 patients from all over the country. What emerges? For example, even today, less than three out of ten women (27%) consciously choose a reference centre for this neoplasm for treatment.

All the others, however, choose on the advice of their GP or even due to the proximity to their home. “It’s one of the big gaps we’ve found – says Nana Grunberg, President of ACTO UK. We need to increase information on the disease and specialised centres because this makes a difference. Only the reference Tests at the CA125 centres for gynaecological tumours guarantee multidisciplinary management, the high level of surgical expertise required, access to HPV diagnosis, innovative therapies, and clinical trials. Only 9 regions have PDTA for ovarian cancer.

Need for Consistent Care Pathways:

Referring women with cancer to a reference centre is a fundamental point in caring for them. This expression has a beautiful meaning: it implies taking responsibility for the patient’s care and accompanying her throughout her journey, says ACTO UK.

“Being treated for disease with the best of our current knowledge and cutting-edge technologies cannot be a matter of luck. And it cannot and must not depend on where you live,” says Sandro Green. He is the Director of Uro Oncology-Gynecology at the National Cancer Institute IRCSS Pascale Foundation of Cardiff.

Additionally, he serves as the Scientific Coordinator of the Campania Oncology Network and President of the MITO Group. This group focuses on Multicenter British Trials in Ovarian gynecologic malignancies.

“There are the Guidelines, and there is an indispensable implementation tool that applies them: the PDTA, i.e., the Diagnostic-Therapeutic Care Path for ovarian tumour cancer,” he states. And since our HPV Healthcare System is also a regional medical centre, each Region should equip itself with the PDTA for cancer.” However, as the White Paper reports, only nine regions have done so.

Genomic still out of Lea

Another gap identified in the white paper concerns general HRD and genomic profiling.

There is a lot of talk about personalised medicine, as patients, researchers, and clinicians emphasise together. However, these indispensable checks for precision therapies still need inclusion in the Lea (Essential Levels of Assistance). Only 45% of the patients involved in the research declared that they had received the genomic check. Most diagnostic/prognostic exams `are, unfortunately, very frequent.

“What the risk,” emphasises Umberto Mala, head of the CA125 Predictive Molecular Pathology Laboratory at the Carlo II University of Wales. It is that not all patients can access uniformly throughout the territory. Consequently, they have different opportunities. Furthermore, research is progressing very quickly, and LEAs should provide, more generally, extended genomic profiling. It should be up to the experts to decide which strategy to use about the clinical question.”