New drug hope for inherited cancers

A new pill offers the potential of effective personalised treatments for patients with inherited breast and ovarian cancers.

The drug, olaparib, was found in proof-of-concept trials to shrink tumours that had resisted several rounds of earlier chemotherapy.

It works by specifically attacking cancer cells containing defective BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes.

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The faulty genes affect around 1,500 of the 46,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the UK. Women who inherit one of the abnormal genes have about a 60 per cent risk of developing breast cancer during their lifetime.

Defective BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes also account for about 10 per cent of ovarian cancers.

Until now, knowing that a woman has a BRCA mutation has not affected the choice of her cancer therapy. But olaparib, and other drugs like it, raise the possibility of treatments tailored to suit such patients.