Following surgery, women receive chemotherapy, typically with carboplatin and a type of drug called a taxane. These kill cancer cells in different ways and in combination are more effective than either alone. While some women will be cured with this combined treatment, over time many cancers can recur and become resistant to chemotherapy.
The radical shift in understanding of the origins and types of ovarian cancer is resulting in the development of more targeted chemotherapy and greater use of personalised therapies where treatment is matched to the underlying cellular type of the person’s cancer. This new focus on genetics and the subtypes of ovarian cancer has led to clinical trials for new treatments and new combinations of treatments.