Verastem Oncology and STAAR Ovarian Cancer Foundation Establish the Inaugural Low-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer (LGSOC) Awareness Day on September 9, 2024

LGSOC is a rare ovarian cancer often affecting younger women, with no FDA-approved treatments

Approximately 80% of people treated for LGSOC will have their cancer come back

BOSTON & HOUSTON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Verastem Oncology (Nasdaq: VSTM), a biopharmaceutical company committed to advancing new medicines for patients with cancer, and the STAAR Ovarian Cancer Foundation today announced the first Low-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer Awareness Day or “LGSOC Awareness Day” on September 9, 2024.

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month and LGSOC is a rare ovarian cancer with little information and awareness available to patients and caregivers. This newly created annual LGSOC Awareness Day will educate people about the symptoms of LGSOC, provide resources to people diagnosed with LGSOC, and advocate for more research.

“When I was diagnosed with LGSOC I knew nothing about this rare ovarian cancer and found that very little information existed about the disease. It is one of my goals to ensure that the first-ever LGSOC Awareness Day will bring much-needed awareness and attention to this rare ovarian cancer so that no person diagnosed with this disease feels alone,” said Nicole Andrews, Board of Directors Chair, STAAR Ovarian Cancer Foundation. “Currently, there are limited treatment options available for LGSOC and no FDA-approved treatments specifically for LGSOC. As the first U.S. foundation dedicated to funding LGSOC research, we want to do more to elevate the unmet needs for this disease and give patients living with LGSOC a voice in the ovarian cancer conversation.”

To help raise awareness and participate in the first LGSOC Awareness Day on Monday, September 9:

• Visit STAAR’s website (https://www.staaroc.org/lgsoc-awareness-day.html) to download shareable social media content and use the hashtag #LGSOCAwarenessDay in their posts.
• Learn more about LGSOC and access tools and resources by visiting Verastem’s Let’s Talk About LGSOC website (https://letstalkaboutlgsoc.com/).

“The inaugural LGSOC Awareness Day builds on the recognition of LGSOC as a distinct disease that is different from other ovarian cancers,” said Dan Paterson, president and chief executive officer of Verastem Oncology. “At Verastem, we are committed to understanding LGSOC from both a disease and patient perspective. We are conducting clinical trials for an investigational treatment combination for LGSOC and have initiated a rolling new drug application with the FDA to potentially bring the first treatment to patients specifically approved for LGSOC. We will continue to do our part to raise awareness about LGSOC with STAAR and the entire LGSOC community while also working to improve outcomes for those living with LGSOC and their families.”

The first-ever LGSOC Patient Impact Survey, conducted in 2023, revealed particular challenges with diagnosis, disease management, and mental, physical, and emotional well-being for people living with LGSOC. Nearly all those surveyed (99%) had no awareness of LGSOC prior to diagnosis, and 60% did not feel that their HCP was “very knowledgeable” about this rare cancer.

This newly formed awareness day is set during Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month to bring a focus to low-grade serous ovarian cancer.

About Low-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer

Low-grade serous ovarian cancer (LGSOC) is a highly recurrent, chemotherapy-resistant cancer, associated with slow tumor growth and high mortality rate. Approximately 6,000-8,000 women in the U.S. and 80,000 worldwide are living with this disease. LGSOC is most often diagnosed in women between the ages of 45-55 and affects a younger patient population with bimodal peaks at ages 20-30 and 50-60 years of age and has a median survival of approximately ten years. The majority of patients experience severe pain and complications as the disease progresses. Approximately, 80% of people with LGSOC have their cancer come back after remission. While chemotherapy is the standard of care for this disease, there are no treatments specifically approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat LGSOC and limited other treatment options are available.

About Verastem Oncology

Verastem Oncology (Nasdaq: VSTM) is a late-stage development biopharmaceutical company committed to the development and commercialization of new medicines to improve the lives of patients diagnosed with cancer. Our pipeline is focused on RAS/MAPK-driven cancers, specifically novel small molecule drugs that inhibit critical signaling pathways in cancer that promote cancer cell survival and tumor growth, including RAF/MEK inhibition and FAK inhibition. For more information, please visit www.verastem.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

About STAAR Ovarian Cancer Foundation

STAAR Ovarian Cancer Foundation is the first charity created in the United States dedicated to funding research into effective treatments for low-grade serous ovarian cancer and improving outcomes for the people diagnosed with it. It was founded in 2020 by three women with LGSOC and is run by a board of volunteers, half of whom are living with the disease. Since its founding, it has contributed more than $600,000 toward LGSOC research at leading institutions.