Many of our doctors are constantly vigilant about our developing skeletal related issues. Having advanced prostate cancer and receiving treatment for this disease increases our odds of developing skeletal issues which affect both our quality of life and our mortality. Drugs like denosumab (Xgeva) and zoledronic acid (Zometa) are important in delaying the onset of [...]
Most people don't know the many advances that the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (DOD PCRP) has brought to the PROSTATE CANCER COMMUNITY. Did you know that the program is directly responsible for funding the initial development of three of the very new drugs we have available? The DOD PCRP is directly [...]
At the current AUA Annual Meeting going on in New Orleans, there was a presentation given by Haitao Zhang and colleagues. They described their work developing a novel blood-based assay (test) for detecting androgen receptor (AR) splice variants in men with advanced prostate cancer. Their work relies on the premise that AR-V7 expression underlies resistance [...]
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 [...]
There is more evidence that the blood test used to count the number of cells circulating in the blood and shed from prostate tumors (circulating tumor cells or CTCs) can indicate whether a treatment is working or not working. A major new study showed that the number of these circulating tumor cells in the blood [...]
As we all know there are now a number of new drugs available to treat castrate resistant metastatic prostate cancer (mCRPC). The availability of these new drugs (abiraterone acetate aka Zytiga, cabazitaxel aka Jevtana, and enzalutamide aka Xtandi) for use in men with mCRPC after the failure of chemotherapy (with docetaxel) has opened a number [...]
In a recent publication it was suggested that radiographic progression-free survival (rPFS) in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) was highly consistent and highly associated with overall survival. This reproducible quantitative find could have implications for the interim measurement of treatment response in future studies, according to Dr. Michael J. Morris of Memorial Sloan [...]
When the FDA approved Abiraterone with prednisone (Zytiga) in the pre-chemotherapy stage they approved it after an interim analysis of data was performed of the phase III clinical trial (COU-AA-302), The analysis was performed by an independent data monitoring committee that found a significant difference in radiographic progression-free survival (scans that showed no tumor progression [...]
Somehow I have been negligent and not let people know that I have written and posted a major update of my “Guide to Advanced Prostate Cancer.” As in the past, it is available as a free download from the Malecare web site. Helping me to update the book was prostate cancer survivor Craig Pynn and [...]
Expected and extraordinary news today on the new treatment front. Medivation and Astellas’ Xtandi (enzalutamide) was approved for use in men with castrate resistant prostate cancer. The new FDA approved label for Xtandi says that it is for the treatment of men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. This label is basically the same as for [...]
