Ovarian Cancer Ovarian cancer accounts for about 3 percent of cancers among women and ranks second among gynecologic cancers. More than 21,000 American women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2009, and approximately 15,000 died from the disease. Women are usually diagnosed with advanced stage disease and the five year overall survival rate for women with ovarian cancer is only 46 percent.1 The current standard of care for the first-line treatment of ovarian cancer is surgery and a platinum-containing chemotherapy regimen. Although more than 50 percent of patients have a complete response to first-line therapy, 70-90 percent of patients who have advanced disease will require second-line treatment. Picoplatin was evaluated in two separate clinical trials in women afflicted with ovarian cancer who have become refractory or resistant to a first-line platinum-containing treatment regimen. The first trial, conducted in 94 women, was a Phase 2 single agent clinical trial where patients achieved a 41 percent objective response rate and 8 patients achieved complete responses. In the second trial, picoplatin was safely combined with pegylated liposomal doxorubicin in 16 patients (including 5 ovarian and 1 peritoneal cancer patient). Patients achieved a 31 percent overall response rate (3 patients with ovarian cancer had partial responses, and the patient with peritoneal cancer achieved a complete response). Poniard, in collaboration with its advisory board and the FDA, will leverage insights from these Phase 2 trials to develop a registration strategy for picoplatin in ovarian cancer. More information on picoplatin in ovarian cancer » 1American Cancer Society, Cancer Facts and Figures 2009