In an online article published Friday, November 6, 2015 Dr. David Crawford raises some very serious questions about how we standardly use hormone therapy (ADT) in the treatment of men with advanced prostate cancer. He claimed that not only is it vital for initial positive outcomes, it is vital for the successful use of the [...]
It has been long assumed that hormone therapy (ADT) used in the treatment of men with advanced prostate cancer increases a man’s risk for developing potentially live threatening thromboembolic disease (formation in a blood vessel of a clot (thrombus) that breaks loose and is carried by the blood stream to plug another vessel. The clot [...]
Clinical trials are used to both demonstrate that a drug or treatment has efficacy (extends life or improves the quality of life). They also are used as the vehicle to obtain approval from the governmental body responsible for monitoring and approving their use. How the trial is set up will directly dictate the eventual approved [...]
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has received approval and launched, in the United States, a generic version of the Avodart (dutasteride) capsules at the 0.5 mg dose. Avodart, 5-alpha reductase inhibitor, is FDA approved for the treatment of men with benign prostate hyperplasia (an enlarged prostate gland), however, although not approved; men often use it as a [...]
Understanding how to best sequence and combine our new drugs to treat advanced prostate cancer includes the most discussed issue, efficacy. We want to know if a special order or a special combination of the approved drugs will nake a difference in both our quality of life (QoL) as well as how survival. Often [...]
We know that Abiraterone (Zytiga) extends life, but we also know that its side effects can be harsh, especially in elderly men (men over 75 years). We also know that men with metastatic, castrate resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) have a limited potential life expectancy. Given these facts, it is important to know if, despite being [...]
I have been relatively quiet about the skyrocketing cost of drugs, but it has now become impossible to remain out of the fray. A Pharmaceutical company recently acquired a drug called Daraprim, the drug treats potentially fatal parasitic infections. After its acquisition the company raised the price of Daraprim by almost 5,0000%. When confronted with [...]
As I have said before, the next big step in the clinical care of men with prostate cancer will be in not in the development of a new drug, but in our growing knowledge of how to sequence and combine our new drugs. Today’s post provides just one example of this new type of breakthrough [...]
The standard of care and the facts are simple. Men who have aggressive prostate cancer and elect to have radiation therapy will benefit from six months of concurrent hormone therapy (ADT). However, based on recent findings by D’Amico etal, there seems to be a segment of men who will not benefit, but will have inferior [...]
Xgeva, also known as denosumab, is an injectable medication (injected once a month subcutaneously under the skin in the doctor’s office) that is used to prevent bone fractures and spinal cord compression caused by bone metastases in breast and prostate cancer survivors. Solid tumors in the bone, which is a common site for individuals with [...]
