Daily Medication Pearl: Rucaparib (Rubraca)

Medication Pearl of the Day: Rucaparib (Rubraca)

Indication: Rucaparib (Rubraca) is a poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor indicated to help maintain the response to other treatments for certain types of ovarian cancer, fallopian tube, and primary peritoneal cancer that has recurred in adult patients who showed a complete or partial response to other chemotherapy regimens. Rucaparib also treats certain types of ovarian cancer, fallopian tube cancer, and primary peritoneal cancer in patients with a specific gene previously administered at least 2 other chemotherapy treatments. Rucaparib also treats certain types of prostate cancer that has spread to other areas in the body in patients with a specific gene who have received other treatments.

Insight:

• Dosing:Recommended dose is 600 mg orally twice daily with or without food.
• Dosage forms: Tablets 200 mg, 250 mg, and 300 mg.
• Adverse events:Most common adverse reactions (≥ 20%) among patients with ovarian cancer were nausea, fatigue (including asthenia), vomiting, anemia, dysgeusia, AST/ALT elevation, constipation, decreased appetite, diarrhea, thrombocytopenia, neutropenia, stomatitis, nasopharyngitis/URI, rash, abdominal pain/distention, and dyspnea.
• Mechanism of action:Rucaparib is an inhibitor of PARP enzymes, including PARP-1, PARP-2, and PARP-3, which play a role in DNA repair. In vitro studies have shown that rucaparib-induced cytotoxicity may involve inhibition of PARP enzymatic activity and increased formation of PARP-DNA complexes resulting in DNA damage, apoptosis, and cancer cell death. Increased rucaparib-induced cytotoxicity and anti-tumor activity was observed in tumor cell lines with deficiencies in BRCA1/2 and other DNA repair genes. Rucaparib has been shown to decrease tumor growth in mouse xenograft models of human cancer with or without deficiencies in BRCA.

Source: Microsoft Word - final June 2022 (clovisoncology.com)