It is known that prostate cancer may be written in some men’s genes, but so are instructions for discovering new treatments and understanding family risk. If we want to better understand prostate cancer, we have to better understand genes. That’s why the genetic information of prostate cancer patients is so important. This information is the more »
I have been compiling a list and brief description of such drugs as I learn about them from the scientific literature or other reliable sources. While my list of therapeutic agents under various stages of clinical development may not be complete, one can always search the site ClinicalTrials.gov. Recently three new therapies under development for more »
Recurrent prostate cancer is usually treated with radiation alone or with the addition of hormone therapy. Doctors currently use certain criteria—like tumor grade and PSA level—to recommend whether patients with recurrent prostate cancer should get hormone therapy in addition to radiation. But studies have shown that these characteristics aren’t very good at identifying people who more »
On Friday, December 18, 2020, the US FDA approved the first oral gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) receptor antagonist, relugolix (Orgovyx), for adult patients with advanced prostate cancer. This is an important advance because it offers another option to patients who are taking hormone therapy. One of the mainstays of treatment for high-risk and metastatic prostate cancer more »
If you have been on hormone therapy (androgen deprivation therapy, ADT) for significant periods of time, e.g. greater than six months, this blog has some valuable information and recommendation for you. A new study reports that long-term exposure to androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), a common treatment for prostate cancer, is associated with worse cardiorespiratory fitness more »
Provenge (sipuleucel-T) by Dendreon Pharmaceuticals, is superior to Zytiga (abiraterone acetate) or Xtandi (enzalutamide) at prolonging the lives of men with metastatic castration (hormone)-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) when added at any point in a treatment regimen, according to a real-life study in the U.S. The study, “A Retrospective Observational Analysis of Overall Survival with Sipuleucel-T more »
The following Nov. 24th article from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) describes recent clinical trial findings that for some patients with painful spinal metastases from advanced cancer, a type of precise, high-dose radiation therapy (SBRT) may be a highly effective way to relieve that pain. About a third more »
Two recent approvals by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have opened a new avenue of treatment for some men with prostate cancer: an expanded role for targeted therapies. The approvals are for the drugs olaparib (Lynparza) and rucaparib (Rubraca). They cover the use of the drugs in men whose prostate cancer has spread, or more »
The American Urological Association (AUA), American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), and Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO) have released new guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of advanced prostate cancer, developed by a panel of experts. In addition to their own expertise and experience, panel members assessed data from 264 prostate cancer studies in developing more »
Data from more than 6,000 Medicare patients showed that adding the immunotherapy Provenge (sipuleucel-T) to a regimen containing the oral agents Zytiga (abiraterone acetate) or Xtandi (enzalutamide) significantly extended the lives of men with metastatic hormone-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). The findings were presented in a poster at the recent American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) more »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted priority review to Clovis Oncology’s application seeking approval of Rubraca (rucaparib) for treating men with recurrent metastatic castration (hormone)-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) and BRCA mutations. Clovis submitted its application to the FDA in November, 2019. The priority review status will shorten Rubraca’s regulatory review for this more »
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is sponsoring a clinical trial at many locations comparing two types of radiation therapy, stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). The former is administered in less than two weeks while the latter is given in five weeks. The aim of the trial is to compare cure more »
Delivering higher doses of radiation therapy over a shorter time period — an approach called stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) — does not worsen side effects in men with localized prostate cancer, compared to conventional radiation therapy, a Phase 3 trial shows. The study also suggests that SBRT delivered through the CyberKnife System is less more »
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 (from 18.4 months to 40.4 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 more »