Hi everyone. I'm looking for anyone who has a BRCA2 mutation and advanced NSCLC. Husband is now taking PARP Inhibitor Lynparza b/c last year one of his second line treatments - Avastin - supposedly caused his colon to perforate and his onc doesn't want to put him back on traditional chemo/immunotherapy. The Lynparza seems to be working - enlarged lymph nodes have gotten smaller. Challenge is that Medicare won't cover it since it's off label for LC. We had to pay an enormous sum out of pocket before we qualified from assistance from the manufacturer and are appealing this denial at the fourth level (hearing with a judge) Any and every bit of research on the effectiveness of this drug with LC is welcome and any info on incidence of this mutation with LC is also. I recently listened to a webinar by American Ling Association and submitted a question regarding incidence but the oncologist who took the question just said it's not often found. Thanks!
Reply # - June 20, 2020, 08:53 AM
BRCA2 NSCLC
GRACE Community Outreach Team
Hi Nanamar,
Welcome to GRACE. I'm sorry that your husband is having such trouble getting Medicare to pay for Lynparza (olaparib), but it is good that you're getting assistance from the manufacturer. I've checked clinicaltrials.gov for studies in which it's been tested for lung cancer, but at this point there doesn't seem to be much trial evidence supporting its use in NSCLC. Without FDA approval for its use in this context, it's an uphill battle to prove it's anything other than investigational at this point.
As far as the prevalence of this agent in NSCLC, here's a study from China discussing that subject (granted, it's in a Chinese population, which can be different from a Western cohort): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6743617/ So although the BRCA2/NSCLC isn't rare, it's uncommon.
Good luck with the appeal and best wishes for continued success with Lynparza.
Jim C Forum Moderator
Reply # - July 11, 2020, 01:29 PM
brca lung cancer
We have just published an article on a small series of patients with lung cancer and brca mutations ( kadouri et al lung cancer 2019) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31542568/ . in this article we reported on one patient with a brca mutation who was already 6 months stable on olaparib( its only mentioned in the discussion) . He has since continued with this drug and the lung cancer is stable for more than a year - unfortunately he has now brain mets. I am currently treating another brca carrier patient with this drug - his first ct is stable but its a bit early. You might be able to obtain the drug on a compassionate basis.