A combination of two drugs that can block the growth of cancer cells has shown promising results in women with a form of ovarian cancer that rarely responds to chemotherapy or hormone therapy.

Tumours shrank or stopped growing in almost one in three women (31 per cent) with low-grade serous ovarian cancer, which does not respond well to chemotherapy, when taking a combination of avutometinib and defactinib. The drugs work by blocking signals that encourage cancer cells to grow.

Almost a third of women with low-grade serous ovarian cancer saw their tumours shrink or stop growing when taking a combination of avutometinib and defactinib. | ITV National News

Women with difficult-to-treat ovarian cancer offered hope by new drugs - Professor Susana Banerjee, from the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and the Institute of Cancer Research said the findings were ‘significant’.

Almost a third of women with low-grade serous ovarian cancer, which does not respond well to chemotherapy, saw their tumours shrink or stop growing with the drugs

Scientists say the Royal Marsden hospitals' drug trial could change practice globally for serous form of ovarian cancer which doesn't respond well to chemotherapy