Pfizer and Merck commence ovarian cancer trial for avelumab

Pfizer and Merck have announced the commencement of a new phase III clinical trial to determine the benefits of the drug avelumab as a treatment for ovarian cancer.

The JAVELIN Ovarian 100 aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of avelumab in combination with or as a follow-on treatment to platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced or metastatic untreated epithelial ovarian cancer.

It is the first phase III study evaluating the addition of an immune checkpoint inhibitor to standard-of-care in first-line treatment for this aggressive disease.

As of May 2016, the JAVELIN clinical development programme for avelumab has enrolled approximately 2,200 patients, treated across more than 15 tumour types.

Dr Chris Boshoff, head of early development for translational and immuno-oncology at Pfizer, said: "Patients with ovarian cancer need additional treatment options. We believe there could be synergistic activity in the combination of avelumab and established treatments such as platinum-based chemotherapy."

The company presented its latest clinical insights into the performance of avelumab at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting last month.