Prof Jonathan Ledermann presented data at the 2013 European Cancer Conference in Amsterdam on women with ovarian cancer that has recurred after chemotherapy and their response with a biological therapy called cediranib.

Cediranib, which is taken in pill form, is an inhibitor of a cell signalling process involved in formation of tumour blood vessels, essential for tumour growth, and it is the first oral inhibitor of its kind to show an improvement in the time before patients’ disease progresses and in overall survival.

The drug is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, a type of biological therapy that blocks vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptors, which control the development of blood vessels required for growing tumours.

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