Degarelix Shows Promise as Second-Line Hormonal Therapy for Men With Prostate Cancer

When Degarelix (FIRMAGON) which is a gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) receptor blocker was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) I contacted Ferring Pharmaceuticals and spoke with their medical director. I asked if Degarelix could be used as a second line hormone therapy drug after the traditional first line GnRH agonist drugs (Lupron etc.) [...]

Should I go on to Hormone Therapy – What about the Risk of Thromboembolic Diseases

(Results from the population-based PCBaSe Sweden) Hormone therapy (ADT) is designed to prevent the manufacturing of testosterone however, testosterone is a very important preventive hormone, especially in the area of heart health. ADT also causes a number of metabolic side-effects including increased body weight, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and hyperglycemia. So, how is the risk of [...]

Medicare/ Trailblazer Rejects Reimbursement for Provenge & Jevtana!

A member of the advanced prostate cancer on-line support group who is the wife of an advanced prostate cancer survivor in New Mexico just informed us that Trailblazer (the MAC that controls New Mexico reimbursements for Medicare and Medicaid) has said they will not pay for her husband to get Provenge. They were also told [...]

Salvage Radiotherapy after High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) for Recurrent Localized Prostate Cancer

HIFU has been a common primary prostate cancer treatment in Europe for quite a while. Currently, in the United States, there are a number of clinical trial sites evaluating HIFU as a primary treatment. Like all other primary treatments there is a significant failure rate causing men to move on to salvage therapy. In Europe [...]

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