A pioneering gene-targeted drug already licensed for breast and ovarian cancer can benefit some men with prostate cancer, a major new clinical trial reports.

Scientists have identified a gene mutation in the tumours of men with prostate cancer that is linked to very poor survival – and which could be used to pick out patients for more intensive treatment.

A new panel of genes could pick out men at highest risk of developing prostate cancer and pick out those already diagnosed who are likely to have particularly aggressive forms of the disease, a large-scale genetic analysis has found.