Parp Inhibitor in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (PIN)

In 2010, more than 35,000 people died in the United Kingdom from lung cancer, the majority from non-small cell cancer (NSCLC). Chemotherapy is one of the main treatments for patients with NSCLC but those treated will still only live for an average of 9 or 10 months after diagnosis. The purpose of this clinical trial is to find out whether or not giving a drug called Olaparib following chemotherapy will benefit patients with NSCLC who have responded to initial chemotherapy treatment by prolonging the time before the tumour regrows. Olaparib is a new, oral drug developed by AstraZeneca which may help to slow down cancer growth. The rationale for this clinical trial is that chemotherapy damages tumour cell DNA and NSCLC tumours that respond to chemotherapy are less able to repair this damage. This can be exploited by using Olaparib as it blocks an enzyme called Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) which is essential for DNA repair. This will prevent DNA repair and cause cancer cell death by a mechanism known as synthetic lethality. Synthetic lethality arises when a combination of mutation in two or more genes leads to cell death. Up to 300 patients who are to receive standard chemotherapy treatment will be initially registered into the trial. Of these patients, 114 patients who have responded to chemotherapy will be randomly allocated to receive either Olaparib or an inactive dummy pill or placebo by mouth. The trial will assess whether Olaparib delays disease progression following standard chemotherapy treatment in patients. It will also show whether the side effects of adding Olaparib following standard treatment are acceptable.