Treatment Information

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 »

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 »

The drug, TAK-700 (Ortoronel) and Phase 3 clinical trials have been described in a blog published on this website on June 3rd, 2011. TAK-700 is an oral, non-steroidal, androgen (e.g. testosterone) synthesis inhibitor. It is being developed by the Takeda Oncology Company affiliated with Millennium. They are sponsoring safety and efficacy clinical trials in men more »

On February 8th, the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new indication for Zytiga® (abiraterone acetate) in combination with prednisone for the treatment of patients with metastatic high-risk hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (HSPC). The approval is based on Phase 3 data from the pivotal more »

On Feb. 14th, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved apalutamide (Erleada®, previously  called ARN-509) for the treatment of non-metastatic, castration (hormone)-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Apalutamide could be administered in a clinical setting wherein men who are being treated with androgen (hormone) deprivation therapy (ADT) see their PSA levels begin to rise, but no metastases more »

According to results just recently presented at the February 2018 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, treatment with Xtandi® (enzalutamide) reduced the risk of metastasis or death in hormone-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) patients whose cancer has not yet spread beyond the prostate, Pfizer and Japan-based Astellas Pharma recently announced. The Phase 3 PROSPER clinical trial more »