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AstraZeneca and Merck (MSD) Report Positive Phase 3 Results for Olaparib in Early Breast Cancer

Dec 11, 2024

On 11 December 2024, AstraZeneca and Merck (known as MSD outside the US and Canada) announced positive results for Lynparza® (olaparib) in the treatment of breast cancer, as demonstrated in the OlympiA Phase III trial presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium 2024.  

Lynparza® reduced the risk of death by 28% (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.72).  In addition, 87.5% of patients treated with Lynparza were alive at six years vs. 83.2% in the comparator arm.  

Lynparza demonstrated a 35% reduction in invasive disease recurrence, second cancers, or death (HR: 0.65) and a 35% reduction in distant disease recurrence or death (HR: 0.65). 

The benefits spanned all key patient subgroups, including those with high-risk, hormone-receptor-positive disease. 

This news follows AstraZeneca’s recent approval to market Lynparza® in India in combination with durvalumab for the maintenance treatment of advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer (November 2024), and reaffirms Lynparza® as the first and only PARP inhibitor to improve overall survival (OS) in early-stage, high-risk, HER2-negative breast cancer with BRCA mutations.