Welcome Back!
I hope you enjoyed the July 4th holiday!
Continuing on the theme I started last week, I would like to discuss my upcoming feature article with you.
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Well, I am still in ASCO 2012 review mode, and this week I am diligently completing an article that reviews some of the more salient presentations in the area of prostate cancer therapy. The article is filled with new data on cutting-edge therapies, the latest epidemiological statistics on prostate cancer, and commentary from leading prostate cancer expert Dr. Neal Shore.
The feature article begins with the most recent epidemiology on prostate cancer, courtesy of the American Cancer Society. This introduction is replete with the 2012 US-based estimates of the number of prostate cancer diagnoses and prostate cancer deaths, as well as some stats on the lifetime diagnosis rate and prevalence of this dreaded disease, which is the second leading cause of cancer death in American men, behind only lung cancer; 1 man in 36 will die of prostate cancer in 2012.
This informative introduction is followed by discussion of and commentary on 3 major clinical trials on prostate cancer therapy presented at ASCO 2012. The first was the COU-AA-302 (also known to those in the field as the “302” trial), which was an interim analysis result of a randomized, phase 3 study of abiraterone acetate in chemotherapy-naive patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). The investigators were pleased to report that, compared to placebo, abiraterone significantly prolonged survival and was well tolerated in this patient population.
Continuing on the theme of hormonal manipulation in prostate cancer patients, I discuss a presentation by Maha Hussain, MD, of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in which reported a study comparing intermittent androgen deprivation (IAD) to continuous androgen deprivation (CAD) in men with hormone-sensitive metastatic prostate cancer, the results of which could be practice-changing.
Finally, I discuss a presentation on radium-223, a unique isotope studied in a phase 3, double-blind, randomized, multinational study in castration-resistant prostate cancer patients with bone metastases. The investigators in this study reported that, compared to placebo, radium-223 prolonged survival, reduced risk of death, and prolonged median time to first skeletal related events.
How will these data help you to treat your prostate cancer patients?
What other new therapies are you using in your clinical practice to treat your mCRPC patients?
