Prostate cancer drug 'breakthrough'

12:46pm Tuesday 22nd July 2008

Men who expect to die from prostate cancer have been offered new hope by a drug which could represent the biggest step forward in treating the disease in 60 years.

A preliminary trial has shown that abiraterone can reverse even the most aggressive, resistant and deadly cancers.

Doctors believe it could potentially prolong the lives of up to 10,000 British men each year, as well as providing relief from symptoms such as excruciating bone pain.

Between 70% and 80% of the seriously ill men treated with the drug have shown significant improvements.

In between 20% and 30% of cases patients have experienced dramatic falls in PSA - the blood marker used to test for prostate cancer - and greatly surpassed their expectations of survival.

If abiraterone continues to live up to expectations, it could be available on the NHS in three years.

A much larger study involving 1,200 patients worldwide and 10 centres in the UK began two months ago and will directly measure the extent to which the drug can keep people alive.

Dr Gerhardt Attard, one of the scientists from the Institute of Cancer Research in Sutton, Surrey, where the drug was discovered, said: "Time will be our judge, but we're very excited about this. It is changing our understanding of prostate cancer in a way that has not been done for 50 or 60 years."

The scientists from the Royal Marsden Hospital in London reported on results from 21 men who took part in the Phase 1 trial and were treated with increasing doses of abiraterone. Their progress was mirrored by a number of other men also treated by the team, making more than 100 in total.

The men all had aggressive cancers that were no longer responding to traditional hormone therapies. In many cases the disease had spread to the liver, lungs or bones.

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