Life-extending prostate cancer pill could be available in a year
A pill that gives men with advanced prostate cancer an extra four months of life has come a step closer to being approved for use in Britain.
Zytiga is a hormonal drug that cuts off the source of testosterone, which makes prostate cancer cells grow.
Standard hormone treatments for prostate cancer block production of male hormones in the testes, but recent research shows that tumours can produce their own supply, as does the adrenal gland. Zytiga blocks all testosterone generation.
Killer: Around 250,000 men in the UK are living with prostate cancer, which claims 10,000 victims each year
It can be used in up to 80 per cent of patients with aggressive drug-resistant prostate cancer who have run out of options after exhausting a range of anti-hormonal therapies and chemotherapies.
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The drug is not yet available for use on the NHS, but makers Johnson & Johnson have applied for licensing approval in Europe that could be granted by the end of this year.
That approval looks more likely after U.S. watchdogs at the Food and Drug Administration gave the green light to the drug there nearly two months earlier than expected, following its success in trials.
A trial on almost 800 patients in 13 countries found those taking the drug combined with conventional steroid treatment survived for about 15 months, compared with 11 months on steroids alone.
The study was cut short so all patients could be given Zytiga – clinical name abiraterone acetate – after independent monitors determined a clear survival benefit.
Around 250,000 men in the UK are living with prostate cancer, with 37,000 new cases diagnosed each year. It is the biggest cancer killer after lung cancer, with 10,000 men dying from the disease each year.
Zytiga was discovered by British scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research.
Professor Johann de Bono, of the ICR said: ‘This news will be incredibly important to prostate cancer patients and their families.’
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