Data presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology annual congress in Vienna, Austria linked the delay of pain progression the functional decline of men with the newly approved drug Zytiga. The data was derived from an additional anaylisis of the phase 3 trial (COU-AA-302) that led to the FDA approval of Zytiga.

The FDA approval and the current label instructions for Zytiga is that the drug is for men with asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) whose disease has progressed after androgen deprivation therapy and anti-androgens.

Despite this approval many doctors have been prescribing Zytiga prior to chemotherapy because its side effect profile has been lower than taxotere (chemotherapy) while providing both pain relief and life extension.

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