Results from a recent study revealed that an experimental drug may increase the life expectancy of certain patients with prostate cancer by 30 percent.
The study, led by Dr. Oliver Sartor of the Tulane Cancer Center in New Orleans, examined the efficacy of cabazitaxel in men whose prostate cancer continued to progress after receiving chemotherapy treatment with the drug docetaxel and hormone therapy. Those who received the new drug in combination with the chemotherapy drug mitoxantrone lived 2.4 months longer than those who received mitoxantrone with prednisone.
“Until today, experimental agents have never been shown to have a survival advantage in this group of patients. This potentially represents a new therapy option for these patients who are very difficult to treat,” said Dr. Sartor. “We don't know when this is going to the FDA for approval, but we're working very hard to prepare the submission.”
The study results, as well as results from two additional studies related to prostate cancer treatment, will be presented at the Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in San Francisco this week.
In a different study, the PCA3 urine test was able to predict whether a biopsy of the prostate gland would come back positive. The test measures levels of the prostate cancer gene 3, which is present in much higher levels in those with prostate cancer, to determine the likelihood of the presence of prostate cancer in the body.
“The ability of this test to predict biopsies positively could potentially be very helpful and may also may help us identify those more aggressive cancers, which we still do not have a great way to identify other than [with] repeat biopsies,” said Dr. Nicholas Vogelzang, medical director and chairman of the U.S. Oncology’s developmental therapeutics committee.
The third study to be presented at the San Francisco symposium revealed that short-term hormone therapy (given before or during radiation), could help prostate cancer patients with early-stage, intermediate-risk cancer live longer with a reduced risk of recurrence of the cancer. Data from the study noted that the therapy did not seem to help patients with low-risk tumors in early developmental stages.
The results from the third study may need further evaluation, as radiation doses to treat prostate cancer have increased and have proved more effective since the study was conducted, potentially making the study results outdated.
source: drugwatch.com
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