The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today extended the approval of olaparib to include the treatment of metastatic breast cancer in patients who carry the specific inherited BRCA mutation. The decision marks the first time a drug is indicated specifically for BRCA-mutated breast cancer.

Susan Domchek, MD, executive director of the Basser Center for BRCA at the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center and a national leader on the OlympiAD trials that led to FDA approval of olaparib for the treatment of breast cancer, is available today for phone and satellite uplink interviews related to the news. In 2011, Domchek also led the organization of the international team of physician scientists known as BRCA-TAC, which led a charge to advance clinical testing of olaparib in cancer patients with known inherited mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2.

Located within Penn Medicine's Abramson Cancer Center, The Basser Research Center for BRCA focuses exclusively on BRCA1 and BRCA2. The Basser Center was the first comprehensive BRCA-focused center of its kind with research initiatives ranging from the basic biology of BRCA-related cancers to communication of BRCA test results within families.

For more information about Dr. Domchek, please visit: http://www.pennmedicine.org/providers/profile/susan-domchek

Broadcast screeners available upon request