All the drugs used as 2nd line hormone therapy are only partially effective. Only some individuals respond and receive any benefit from them, but there has been some recent research into combining the drugs. At the last American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Dr. Eric Small, M.D. presented a abstract about his recent experimentation of combining ketoconazole with leukine. He reported an amazing response rate of 75%. He also reported that the combination of the two drugs was well tolerated.

Dr. Charles “Snuffy” Meyers has reported combining ketoconazole with transdermal estrogen patches with great success, even after chemotherapy has failed.

All of the second line treatments I have discussed over the last four days use different pathways. Like the success we have had using drug cocktails to treat AIDES, a drug cocktail might also provide a magnified positive effect on castrate resistant prostate cancer.

If you are interested in learning more about prostate cancer as well as more about 2nd line hormone therapies that might help you I recommend that you read Dr. Meyers book, Beating Prostate Cancer.

Joel T. Nowak, M.A., M.S.W.