BOSTON -- Chemotherapy to treat cancer can be debilitating, rendering the patient weak, tired, and often unable to work or care for their family.

That's part of the reason so many people are hopeful that a clinical trial being conducted in Boston and other cities around the world will show that pills can be just as effective as chemotherapy, but with fewer side effects.

Pills Could One Day Replace Chemotherapy

Barbara Morrocco, 54, of Rhode Island, was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer four years ago. Surgery and six rounds of chemotherapy kept it at bay for only 18 months the first time, and even more briefly the second time.

"It didn't last that long. Within seven months I had a recurrence of ovarian cancer again," Morrocco said. "It was a very difficult thing to get through."

Now, Morrocco is enrolled in a clinical trial at Boston's Dana Farber Cancer Institute to see if Poly ADP-Robose Polymerase pills, or PARP inhibitors, might stave off ovarian or breast cancer in women with the BRCA 1 or 2 genetic mutation even more effectively than chemotherapy, the current standard treatment.

"It's really exciting to see drugs that have a very high chance of working in a situation where chemotherapy has a very low chance of working," said Dr. Ursula Matulonis, an oncologist at DFCI and an assistant professor at the Harvard Medical School.

Morrocco and dozens of other study participants take a total of 16 or eight pills per day. Researchers are comparing their outcomes and side effects to women who receive the standard chemotherapy treatments.

Under normal conditions in the body, Matulonis said, PARP enzymes repair cells, keeping them alive. PARP inhibitors prevent that from happening. "If you inhibit PARP, then you don't allow the cancer cell's DNA to be repaired, and the cancer cell dies," she said.

Morrocco started the treatment just one week ago. "I'm so excited about it. I'm thrilled to be in this study," she said. "I think I look great. I feel wonderful and I'm going to work every day."

Other women in the study have been taking PARP inhibitors daily for more than a year, living full lives with few side effects.

"It's not that bad. Folks can work, they can help take care of their families," Matulonis said.

Matulonis is optimistic her clinical trial could lead to approval by the Food and Drug Administration within two years, and one day give women like Morrocco longer, healthier lives.

"I have three daughters and I'm doing this for my children, my family, and every other woman out there who might ever be in my shoes," said Morrocco. "I'm excited to think that this is something that could really be a cure for the future."

Matulonis is still looking to enroll more women in the study. If you have ovarian cancer and would like to learn more, call Kristina Olson at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute at 617-632-2334.