In my commitment to report “On the Horizon” treatments for advanced prostate cancer today I will discuss an investigational treatment known as Tasquinimod. It is an experimental treatment that is both an immunotherapy and anti-angiogenic agent (designed to prevent the development of blood vesicles which would feed a tumor allowing its growth). In phase 2 [...]
Despite its approval five years ago sipuleucel-T (Provenge) remains one of the most controversial treatments available for men with castrate resistant metastatic prostate cancer (mCRPC). Provenge has its advocates (Full Disclosure- I am) and it has many detractors. The detractors argue that it doesn’t work and they hang their hat on the argument that it [...]
We still have a lot to learn about how prostate cancer actually spreads, or metastasizes. Current theory holds that the primary tumor is probably most responsible for the development of distant metastases. In a new genomic analysis of tissue performed at the Johns Hopkins University using tissue from prostate cancer patients this paradigm has been [...]
Last year after the ASCO meeting in Chicago I declared that there was one particular presentation of the CHAARTED trial that would be a game changer for the treatment of newly diagnosed men with very significant prostate cancer. The game changer was that men diagnosed with significant disease and who were still ADT naive (not [...]
Immunotherapy has a major and expanding role in the treatment of cancer, including advanced prostate cancer. Over time there have been a number of naysayers as the immunotherapy Provenge has played the role whipping boy by critics. The common criticism leveled at Provenge can be summed up simply, “It doesn’t work.” The plain truth is [...]
One of the more difficult problems faced by some men treated with surgery as their primary treatment modality is post-prostatectomy incontinence (PPI). PPI can affect the quality of life for both men successfully treated as well as those who go on and eventually develop advanced prostate cancer. One of the more common, but last efforts [...]
Before I get into the meat of today’s post about enzalutamide, I want to briefly make some personal comments about my absence from this blog. As I had mentioned I have been diagnosed with a fifth primary cancer, appendiceal cancer. It is a rare cancer, which required my having to remove my appendix, a piece [...]
It was announced today that preliminary results from the Phase II STAND trial demonstrates continued and what is described as a robust immune response with Provenge (sipuleucel-T) that continues two years after completing treatment in men with biochemically-recurrent prostate cancer (BRPC). This finding, along with data from the ongoing Phase IV registry PROCEED trial, are [...]
There is some really exciting news on the horizon around immunotherapy for advanced prostate cancer. Bavarian Nordic, the pharmaseutical company that has, along with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), been running clinical trials on Prostvac has unoffically let it been known that Prostvac when combined with another investigational immunologic therapy, Yervoy, has helped to significantly [...]
Chemotherapy for prostate cancer is still limited to just two drugs, docetaxel (Taxotere) and cabazitaxel (Jevtana). Both of these chemotherapy drugs are taxanes, but they seem to be very different in their mode of action. A study published online in Clinical Cancer Research, indicates that cabazitaxel might be more effective for some men than docetaxel. [...]
