Ovarian cancer patients are losing out as funding focused on more prominent diseases, says researcher

Ovarian cancer patients are losing out as funding and attention is focused on more prominent women’s diseases, says Australian oncology researcher, Dr Jim Coward, on World Ovarian Cancer Day (8 May).

According to the World Cancer Research Fund International, ovarian cancer is the seventh most common cancer in women worldwide. Five-year survival rates for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer varies between 30 and 50%.

“More needs to be done in developing novel clinical trials to help enhance the survival rates for women with ovarian cancer,” said Coward.

“We’re really only gaining small steps in understanding ovarian cancer – how it evolves, how the tumour behaves once its established, where it originates – and making small gains subsequently in developing effective treatments.

“Many women wrongly assume that when they’re getting their Pap test, they’re also getting screened for ovarian cancer. While there are a couple of ways doctors currently test for ovarian cancer, these processes are controversial.

“Ovarian cancer presents late and in late stages. If we could be on the front foot with it, treatments are likely to be more effective. Ovarian cancer needs a greater national focus and a unified approach to screening.”

Coward is leading the first clinical trial of the Australian therapy Cantrixil for recurrent ovarian cancer, which will be taking place at Icon Cancer Care South Brisbane. Additionally, Flinders Medical Centre in South Australia and Westmead Hospital in Sydney are participating in the Phase I trial, along with leading US hospitals Peggy and Charles Stephenson Cancer Centre, and Mary Crowley Cancer Research Centre.

Cantrixil is being developed by the Australian biotech Kazia Therapeutics and could enable intraperitoneal (IP) chemotherapy to again become a viable treatment option in ovarian cancer patients where it has become ineffective due to resistance.