�New, groundbreaking ceremony research reveals a drug, discovered at The Institute of Cancer Research, could treat up to 80 per cent of patients with aggressive and antecedently drug repellent prostate malignant neoplastic disease, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology .
The results of the Phase 1 clinical trial, undertaken by The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden Hospital and funded by Cougar Biotechnology, Inc. establish that the drug abiraterone could regale up to 10,000 British workforce diagnosed each year with the to the highest degree aggressive and almost always fatal type of prostate gland cancer.
The study, involving 21 work force, revealed substantial tumour shrinkage and dramatic falls in PSA levels in the majority of advanced prostate gland cancer patients who standard the drug.
Lead researcher Dr Johann de Bono said the drug abiraterone worked to block the generation of key hormones that drive the development of prostate gland cancers.
"Clinical benefits included evidence of PSA falls and tumour shrinkage which was discovered in 70-80 per cent of patients," he said.
"Abiraterone works not exclusively in blocking the generation of these hormones in the testes, but as well elsewhere in the body, including generation of hormones in the cancer itself.
"Tumour shrinkage was determined by a reduction in the rakehell level of prostate specific antigen (PSA) - a protein associated with prostate gland cancer activity, and also with analyses of CAT scans, MRI scans and bone scans.
"The Royal Marsden patients in this study have been monitored for up to two-and-a-half years and with continued use of abiraterone they were able-bodied to control their disease with few side-effects. A number of patients were able to stop pickings morphine for the relief of off-white pain.
"These men let very aggressive prostate cancer which is exceptionally unmanageable to do by and about always proves to be fatal. We hope that abiraterone will eventually extend them real hope of an effective way of managing their condition and prolonging their lives.
"It is visualised that this drug will be available for general use from 2011 and we hope it stool become widely available. In the meanwhile, it is available through clinical trials only."
Robin Wood, 65, from Wokingham near Reading was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer in May 2007 and failed to respond to treatment. He said: "My prostate was very cancerous and I had only a one in basketball team chance of being alive by the end of 2008. However, abiraterone radically changed that, with my health up within a week of beginning the drug test. I feature just returned from the huge Round The Island Yacht Race, which is a testament to my better wellness. I was diagnosed with prostate cancer after reading about the symptoms in the paper and immediately went to the GP. My life might take in turned out very otherwise if I hadn't read that clause."
Simon Bush, 50, from London, was involved in the abiraterone clinical tryout. He aforesaid: "Last year I was in severe pain because of my prostate cancer, which had worsened and spread to my clappers. Chemotherapy and other treatments had failed and intelligence that I had very few treatment options available to me was devastating for my family. Fitness and travel were always my principal interests and abiraterone has allowed me to get a yr so far of dear normality. The changes in my sprightliness have been dramatic, from managing thousands of people in a major bank, to facing a very uncertain future, then to renewed hope thanks to this drug trial."
All the patients involved in the trial had an aggressive form of prostate gland cancer in which the tumour tissue is believed to be able to produce its own render of the hormones which drive tumour growth. This form cannot be alone treated with currently uncommitted drugs to block the production of male hormones by the testes.
Abiraterone works via a different mechanism which blocks the synthesis of male hormones in all tissues. The drug english hawthorn eventually be used alongside other treatments in patients with the "castration-resistant" aggressive form of the disease.
Abiraterone is owned by BTG and licensed to Los Angeles based Cougar Biotechnology, Inc. and is now undergoing further clinical trials. It is existence used in a 1200-patient international cogitation for the treatment of men with prostate cancer. Abiraterone is also being used to treat chest cancer in women through a Cancer Research UK funded test.
Prostate cancer is the most usual male cancer in the UK, with more than 35,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Around 10,000 manpower die of the disease every year, almost all of them from its castration-resistant shape.
The Institute of Cancer Research Chief Executive Professor Peter Rigby said the discovery of abiraterone and its application to fighting prostate cancer, highlighted what could be achieved through funding populace leading cancer research.
"Today we can buoy reveal a potential major advance in the treatment of prostate gland cancer. We hope with the generous contribution of the residential district we can buoy continue to develop better treatments to combat many cancers."
Cally Palmer, Chief Executive of The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, said: "The results of this subject area show just how significant abiraterone is set to become in the treatment of hands with prostate cancer and highlights the national importance of support pioneering cancer research."
Institute of Cancer Research
More info
