A study presented at the International Congress of Clinical Oncology reveals that abiraterone would reduce the mortality of metastasized prostate cancer.
Each year, prostate cancers affect 55,000 men in France, and kill in almost one in seven cases. results of a clinical study, presented in Chicago, at the congress of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) this Sunday, reveal the effectiveness of a new treatment.
Abiraterone, a new generation hormone therapy that prevents the production of male hormones, would reduce mortality by 38% at two and a half years. It would also limit relapses by half.
Major results
“Even though prostate cancer is very sensitive to hormone therapy (classic, editor’s note), we know that testosterone inhibitors do not completely eradicate all cancer cells, and that there is residual hormone production, explains Prof. Karim Fizazi, head of the medical oncology department at the Institut Gustave- Roussy, who conducted the study soon to be published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“These major results will change the management of patients diagnosed from the outset with metastatic prostate cancer,” he adds. Obtained from 1,200 patients from 34 countries, they indeed bring new things to protocols that have changed little for 70 years, recalls the Institute in a press release.
Better survival, fewer complications
The classic treatment of these cancers was until recently based on conventional hormone therapy, intended to inhibit the production of testosterone by the testes. For the LATITUDE trial, the patients received, in addition to the standard treatment, abiraterone and prednisone (to limit the side effects of abiraterone: hypertension and reduced potassium levels), or a placebo.
And in addition to an improvement in survival, the results show that this cocktail limits the complications related to the disease, and in particular delays the impact on the bones.
Currently used as a last resort in patients resistant to hormone therapy, in the event of a relapse or after chemotherapy, abiraterone has already been granted marketing authorization (MA) since 2012. Its safety and side effects are therefore already known.
15% of prostate cancers
“The advantage of this drug is that it is an oral treatment which is usually well tolerated,” adds Professor Fizazi. These important results are very good news for these patients and we believe that the benefit will be even better with longer follow-up. “
A British study currently underway, and involving 2,000 patients, should also confirm them. Its officials speak of a similar decrease in mortality (37%), a drop in relapses of nearly 70%, and bone complications by 50%.
This is good news for the 10 to 15% of patients whose prostate cancer is diagnosed at a metastatic stage.
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