New drug offers last-ditch prostate cancer option

LONDON (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson's experimental drug abiraterone can help men with advanced prostate cancer who have run out of standard treatment options, according to results of a mid-stage clinical trial.

The drug has previously shown good results in men who did not receive chemotherapy.

The latest Phase II study was done in patients who had been treated with both hormone therapy and docetaxel, the only currently approved chemotherapy to show benefit in late-stage prostate cancer.

British researchers said on Tuesday that about half of the men given the drug experienced a substantial reduction in levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA).

Three-quarters also had a drop in the number of circulating tumor cells, and five of the 47 patients were still taking the drug and getting benefit three years after the trial started.

Abiraterone is now in final-stage testing.

"Docetaxel is an important drug but it extends life for an average of just two to three months, so there is a desperate need to improve treatment options for late-stage prostate cancer patients," said chief investigator Dr Johann de Bono of Britain's Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden Hospital.

"In this trial, abiraterone shrank or stabilized men's cancers for an average of almost six months, which is a very impressive result."

The findings were reported online February 16 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

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