The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Erleada (apalutamide) for the treatment of men with metastatic, castration (hormone)-sensitive prostate cancer (mCSPC), or those whose cancer still responds to androgen deprivation (hormonal) therapy (ADT). The decision is based on the double-blind TITAN Phase 3 trial (NCT02489318), as it showed that adding Janssen’s Erleada to more »
Tumors with large numbers of prostate cancer cells with mutations in DNA repair genes (e.g. BRCA1 and 2) are easier to target using prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) therapies, and patients with these tumors are more likely to respond to this potential treatment’s use, a study found and published in European Urology. PSMA is a membrane more »
Men with metastatic hormone-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) given Lynparza® (olaparib), a breast and ovarian cancer treatment, lived a clinically meaningful longer time without disease progression or death compared to those given standard treatment with Xtandi® (enzalutamide) or Zytiga® (abiraterone) in a Phase 3 trial. These eligible patients had a mutation in one of 15 DNA more »
The treatment landscape for metastatic prostate cancer is shifting and expanding yet again, according to new findings from two large clinical trials presented at the 2019 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The ENZAMET trial tested the drug enzalutamide (Xtandi) and the TITAN trial tested apalutamide (Erleada) in men whose cancer more »
A recent study presented on May 3-6 at the American Urological Association’s 2019 Meeting found that treating metastatic, hormone-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients (who had not received chemotherapy) with Xtandi (enzalutamide) leads to better survival outcomes and lower healthcare costs than Zytiga (abiraterone acetate). While therapies that lower male sex hormones (testosterone) — required for more »
Treatment with the radioactive molecule lutetium-177-PSMA-617 (LuPSMA), which binds to the prostate-specific membrane antigen, is a potential therapeutic strategy for patients with metastatic castration (hormone)-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), results from a Phase II pilot study suggest. Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is found at high levels in prostate cancers, particularly in patients with hormone-resistant disease — more »
Results from a Phase 3 clinical trial reveal that adding the androgen receptor inhibitor darolutamide to androgen deprivation (hormone) therapy (ADT) extends by 22 months the time men with hormone-resistant prostate cancer live without metastasis and without increasing the incidence of adverse events. The treatment also extended survival, time to pain progression, time until chemotherapy was needed, and kept patients more »
According to Dr. William Oh, Deputy Director of the Tisch Cancer Institute, Chief of the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, and Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, there are six myths about chemotherapy. Some prostate cancer patients shy away from or choose not to utilize chemotherapy. more »
Blood tests that examine circulating tumor cells, CTC’s, (cells that shed from the tumor or metastasis into circulation), for the presence of a mutated AR-V7 protein, could help determine if a patient with advanced prostate cancer would fare better with chemotherapy or with medicines such as enzalutamide (Xtandi) or abiraterone (Zytiga) that target the androgen receptor (a cellular more »
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) publishes an e mail blog entitited Current Contents to which one can subscribe. On January 23rd, their blog focused on non-opiod methods of managing cancer pain (see below). Pain is a common and much-feared symptom among people being treated for cancer and long-term more »
Rubraca (rucaparib), Clovis Oncology‘s oral PARP inhibitor, shrank tumors in 44% of metastatic hormone-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients with BRCA mutations included in the Phase 2 TRITON2 clinical trial. The treatment, which is already approved for ovarian cancer, also reduced PSA levels — a biomarker of prostate cancer — in 51.1% of patients with BRCA more »
Immunotherapy with Keytruda (pembrolizumab) may be an effective way to treat some cases of advanced prostate cancer according to a preliminary study conducted at Oregon Health and Science University – Knight Cancer Institute. Findings were published in the journal Oncotarget in a paper entitled “Early evidence of anti-PD-1 activity in enzalutamide-resistant prostate cancer.” Keytruda is a more »
OncBioMune Pharmaceuticals will soon start a Phase 2 clinical trial of its investigational vaccine ProscaVax in men with early-stage prostate cancer under “active surveillance”. ProscaVax consists of a combination of the PSA protein produced by the prostate gland with the cytokines interleukin-2 (IL-2) and granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). [Cytokines are molecules that participate in more »
In catching up on some news from a few months ago, I realized that much had been written recently about treating men with an early stage of advanced prostate cancer. So here is some information in addition to the following posts; The FDA Approves Apalutamide for Some Men with Prostate Cancer; and Xtandi Extends Metastasis-Free Survival in more »
I realize this is somewhat old news but I’d like to share it anyway. On February 14, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved apalutamide (Erleada) for men with prostate cancer that has not spread (non-metastatic) and is resistant to standard hormone therapy, also called androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). In the clinical trial that led to its approval, more »
Men with nonmetastatic, castration (hormone)-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) and a rapidly rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level are at high risk for metastasis. Currently, only one recently approved treatment, Erleada® (apalutamide), is available to these patients. Xtandi®, an androgen receptor inhibitor, is an approved treatment for metastatic CRPC patients. It has been shown to delay disease progression and prolong more »
The National Cancer Institute (NCI), the largest institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), recently posted a short (3-4 minute) but very illustrative video showing and describing three ways how our immune system fights cancer. These methods include: a) non-specific immune stimulation, as illustrated in bladder cancer; b) T-cell transfer therapy, somewhat similar to how more »
The following is bad news for men in England with advanced prostate cancer. The rationale behind making this drug unavailable to men was cost. If anyone here in the US recommends we switch to the British system of health care, this should serve as a wakeup call against it. The therapy as described in the more »
I recently came across an excellent review on the pros and cons of prostate cancer surgery as published by the Prostate Cancer Research Institute (PCRI). I am linking the review. If you are contemplating surgery, please read it and discuss it with your surgeon. You might also want to verify the opinions expressed in this more »
Drugs targeting poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) are helping patients battle back more effectively against cancer. An enzyme, PARP helps repair damaged DNA in cells, and while that’s a good thing in healthy people, it can be bad news for cancer patients. To prevent PARP from repairing DNA breaks in cancer cells, AstraZeneca developed Lynparza, a PARP inhibitor (PARPi) more »