Researchers are now beginning to understand which men with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) might be helped by radium-223 (Xofigo), and for which men Xofigo will be a waste of time and money, and possibly cause harm. They have found that baseline ECOG performance status, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), hemoglobin (Hb) levels, and the concomitant use of abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) [...]
We have become very fortunate over the last 6 years because our arsenal of potential drugs to treat advanced, metastatic prostate cancer has grown. All of our new drugs extend life and most offer palliation of pain. As I have discussed in prior posts we are still in a quandary about how best to sequence [...]
The development of bone metastases is often been viewed as having significant negative implications for long term survival in men with metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). It is generally believed that bone metastases prognosticates a negative impact on both their quality of life and on survival. Contradicting this commonly held belief has been some [...]
Provenge, despite its demonstrated survival advantage, continues to be knocked as a viable treatment for men with castrate-resistant prostate cancer. What is Provenge? Provenge is immunotherapy for men with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer. In other words, Provenge might help men live longer after their cancer has spread outside of the prostate and are no [...]
Men who develop bone metastases have often been viewed as having developed a significant negative change that prognosticates a negative impact on both their quality of life and on their survival. Contradicting this commonly held belief has been some research which has identified a subgroup of men with advanced prostate cancer with bone metastases who [...]
We have many new drugs to treat metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), but not all men have a positive result to each of the drug. Understanding who might obtain a positive result to a specific drug prior giving it will save both the individual man and society time and money. Understanding this it becomes [...]
We are in desperate need of validated biomarkers, which can serve as surrogates for survival. Currently, our doctors must make decisions about which drugs to use and how long to stay on these drugs without any scientific backup or consensus driven direction to their decisions. Our clinical trials for evaluating survival of potential new advanced [...]
