Prostate Cancer Drug Abiraterone Shows Impressive New Research Results
26 May 2009 - The groundbreaking cancer drug abiraterone provides significant benefit for up to two-thirds of men with advanced and aggressive prostate cancer, according to a study published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
The drug, discovered at The Institute of Cancer Research, made headlines in July 2008 when the first UK Phase I clinical trial reported significant shrinkage of patients’ tumours and reduction in pain. The Phase I/II study, reporting on 54 patients, confirmed the Phase I results. In addition, ICR scientists have worked out how to delay drug resistance and developed a test to identify the men most likely to benefit from abiraterone.
“Our latest study also shows that by combining abiraterone with a steroid treatment when abiraterone stops working, we can reverse resistance and extend the response to this treatment by another 12 months,” lead researcher Dr Gert Attard says. “We have also noticed that the majority of patients who had very significant shrinkage of their tumours had an abnormality of a gene called ERG that was probably driving their cancer. We have developed a test for this ERG gene so we can identify the men most likely to benefit from abiraterone.”
Abiraterone has now moved into Phase III prostate cancer trials at more than 150 hospitals across the world, in one of the largest ever trials for end-stage prostate cancer.
