I have heard some occasional discussion that once (that is if) enzalutamide (MDV-3100) is approved by the FDA for the treatment of men with advanced prostate cancer, it will over shadow Provenge. On the contrary, I believe that the approval of enzalutamide will actually encourage additional use of Provenge resulting in the increasing use of [...]
According to data presented at the 2012 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago. (Abstract # 4655) the presences of liver metastases predicts shorter overall survival in men with metastatic castration-refractory prostate cancer (mCRPC). William Kevin Kelly, DO, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson, and colleagues from the [...]
At the American Society for Clinical Oncology's (ASCO) meeting there was an upsetting plenary presentation made on June 3. Data was presented by principal investigator, Maha Hussain, M.D., F.A.C.P., from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Hussain discussed the findings from the phase III clinical trial SWOG-9346, the largest such study to date [...]
I now have some additional information about the Early/Expanded Access Program for Enzalutamide (MDV-3100)for men with advanced prostate cancer. Jan Manarite, who is a member of the Early Access Committee has provided the following information: From the Early/Expanded Access Committee - Now available in 10 states (see list below in this post) with additional states [...]
The recent AUA meetings in Atlanta had a number of interesting abstracts presented that concern men with advanced prostate cancer. Some of the more interesting abstracts were look back analysis of sipuleucel-T (Provenge) done by consultants for Dendreon, the company who manufactures Provenge. They took the data from the al three of the phase III [...]
Yesterday May 16, 2012, the House Appropriations Committee released their draft committee report to accompany the FY13 Defense Appropriations Act. This draft included the CDMRP requested budget for 2013. The good news is that the ask includes $80 million dollars for the Prostate Cancer Research Program. Although this is the same amount prostate cancer received [...]
For a reason that I can not figure out there are a small but still significant portion of medical studies that automatically exclude gays from participating without an apparent scientific reason. These studies usually have requirements that the subject be in a “reciprocal relationship with a person of the opposite sex." Sometimes the exclusion of [...]
The Prostate Cancer Research Program (PCRP) of the Department of Defense, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) has received our fiscal year 2012 (FY12) funding to support research projects in the prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment of Prostate Cancer. This is a critical request and it is important that prostate cancer survivors participate in research [...]
Despite the fact that we have had good research for well over 15 years that show that early hormone therapy increases over all survival, some doctors still insist on delaying the start of hormone therapy. A UK randomized trial done in 1997 demonstrated a slight impact of immediate versus deferred hormone suppression in advanced prostate [...]
For those who might be interested in the April 23, 2012 edition of The New Yorker Magazine, Jerome Groopman has written an excellent article on the history and current state of Immunotherapy. The article is entitled "The T-Cell Army" and it is on page 24. Not only does the article review the history (going all [...]
