French doctors made a major breakthrough in prostate cancer therapy

Combined drug treatment and hormone therapy shows improved results
Prostate cancer threatens the health and lives of many men around the world. Physicians have now found that administering a particular drug along with standard hormone treatment may increase the likelihood of survival for men with prostate cancer spread.

Researchers at the Institut Gustave Roussy in Paris found that prostate cancer, which has already spread throughout the body, can be treated with a combination of medication and standard hormone treatment, greatly increasing the life expectancy of those affected. The experts published the results of their study at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual convention in Chicago.

Prostate cancer is a dangerous disease that, if not detected early, often leads to the death of the person. Physicians now conclude that a combined treatment of hormone therapy and special drugs will make patients with prostate cancer already spread out live longer and painless. (Image: Henrie / fotolia.com)

The drug Abiraterone effectively helps to treat prostate cancer
When men with prostate cancer took the drug abiraterone early, it kept the disease under control for more than twice as long, the researchers say. It also took much longer for the cancer-related pain in the patients to worsen. The results of the current study show that co-treatment with hormone therapy and the drug abiraterone reduces the risk of death in male prostate cancer. This combined treatment also more than doubled the time before the disease worsened massively.

Abiraterone does not cause any side effects in most people
The benefits of early abiraterone use, which we have identified in this study, are at least comparable to the benefits of so-called docetaxel chemotherapy, the experts explain. However, the drug abiraterone is much easier for the patients to tolerate. In many cases, the drug leads to no side effects at all, explains Dr. Karim Fizazi from the Institut Gustave Roussy.

Combined treatment still needs to be approved by the NHS
Should combined treatment be approved by the NHS, this form of treatment could improve the quality of life for thousands of sick men, say the experts. The drug abiraterone is approved by the NHS for use in men whose prostate cancer has already become resistant to hormone treatment.

How did the combined treatment work??
The current study included men with prostate cancer, which had already spread at the time of diagnosis. However, those affected had not yet received any hormone treatment. The researchers compared patients treated with standard hormone therapy and those treated with hormone therapy plus abiraterone and the drug prednisone. After an average follow-up of two and a half years, more abiraterone-treated men were still alive compared to patients receiving hormonal treatment alone.

Abiraterone reduces the rate of severe bone complications
The average time to worsening was approximately 14.8 months in the abiraterone-treated patients. In a combined treatment, this period was 33 months. Further investigation has shown that taking abiraterone, in addition to hormone therapy, improves survival by 37 percent when starting prostate cancer treatment. In addition to the improvements in survival and time without relapse, the drug reduced the rate of serious bone complications, which are a major problem in more than half of all cases of prostate cancer. (As)