Adding abiraterone to standard treatment improves prostate cancer survival by 40 per cent
Adding abiraterone to hormone therapy at the start of treatment for prostate cancer improves survival by 37 per cent, according to the results of one of the largest ever clinical trials for prostate cancer presented at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting (link is external) in Chicago.
The results from the Cancer Research UK-funded STAMPEDE trial could change the standard of care for men with prostate cancer, making abiraterone a first-line treatment alongside hormone therapy.
This part of the STAMPEDE trial recruited around 1,900 patients. Half the men were treated with hormone therapy while the other half received hormone therapy and abiraterone. In men who were given abiraterone there was a 70 per cent reduction in disease progression.
The drug is usually given to men with advanced prostate cancer that has spread and has stopped responding to standard to hormone therapy, but this study shows the added benefit to patients who are about to start long-term hormone therapy.
Professor Nicholas James, chief investigator of the Cancer Research UK-funded STAMPEDE trial from the University of Birmingham, said: ‘These are the most powerful results I’ve seen from a prostate cancer trial – it’s a once in a career feeling. This is one of the biggest reductions in death I’ve seen in any clinical trial for adult cancers.
‘Abiraterone is already used to treat some men whose disease has spread but our results show many more could benefit. In addition to the improvements in survival and time without relapse, the drug reduced the rates of severe bone complications, a major problem in prostate cancer, by more than a half. I really hope these results can change clinical practice.’
Prostate cancer cells usually depend on testosterone to grow. Standard hormone therapy blocks the action of male sex hormones, halting the disease. Abiraterone goes further and shuts down the production of the hormones that fuel prostate cancer’s growth.
Each year around 46,500 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in the UK, and around 11,000 men die from the disease.
Sir Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said: ‘These results could transform the treatment of prostate cancer. Abiraterone can clearly help many more prostate cancer patients than was first thought.
Cancer Research UK www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-us/cancer-news/press-release/2017-06-03-adding-abiraterone-to-standard-treatment-improves-prostate-cancer-survival-by-40-per-cent
