Potential Synergistic Effect between Niraparib and Statins in Ovarian Cancer Clinical Trials

This study investigates the potential clinical synergy between the PARP inhibitor niraparib (Zejula) and concomitant statins, exploring their combined effects on progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with ovarian cancer. We retrospectively analyzed niraparib registrational clinical trials in ovarian cancer to investigate potential interactions between niraparib and statins. In the PRIMA trial, patients receiving niraparib demonstrated improved PFS compared with those on placebo (HR = 0.62; P < 0.001; median PFS 13.8 vs. 8.2 months). The post hoc analysis revealed that patients receiving maintenance niraparib who reported concomitant use of statins exhibited significantly improved PFS compared with those on placebo with concomitant statins (HR = 0.34; P < 0.001; median PFS 18.2 vs. 6.0 months). Notably, the improved efficacy in the two-arm comparison of concomitant statin patients was much better than that in the two-arm comparison of those patients without statin, as reflected in the niraparib–statin interaction (P = 0.005). These findings suggest novel opportunities in oncology for the use of statins in combination therapies with PARP inhibitors and emphasize the need for further investigation.

The presented retrospective analysis suggests, to the best of our knowledge for the first time, a potential significant interaction between statins and niraparib in clinical settings. Nevertheless, further investigations are required to gain a better understanding of the potential clinical benefit.