First treatment approved for breast cancer with BRCA genetic mutation - The Washington Post

First treatment approved for breast cancer with BRCA genetic mutation - The Washington Post

First treatment approved for breast cancer with BRCA genetic mutation



FILE - In this Tuesday, July 31, 2012, file photo, a radiologist compares an image from earlier, 2-D technology mammogram to the new 3-D Digital Breast Tomosynthesis mammography in Wichita Falls, Texas. The technology can detect much smaller cancers earlier. Chances of dying from DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ), a very early form of breast cancer are small but the disease is riskier for young women and blacks - disparities seen previously in more advanced cancer, according to a large study published Thursday, Aug. 20, 2015 in JAMA Oncology. (Torin Halsey/Times Record News via AP)

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday cleared the first treatment for patients with advanced breast cancer caused by BRCA mutations, which are genetic defects that raise the risk of malignancies.

The drug, called Lynparza, already is approved for certain patients with advanced ovarian cancer associated with the same mutations. Richard Pazdur, director of the FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence, said in a statement that expanding the approval to breast-cancer patients “demonstrates the current paradigm of developing drugs that target the underlying genetic causes of a cancer, often across cancer types.”