Experimental Prostate Cancer Medication Could Extend Lives

New research finds an experimental prostate cancer drug that works differently than other treatments actually extends the lives of men with spreading cancer by an average of nearly five months.   The medication, a hormone pill called MDV3100, launches a three-pronged attack against testosterone and its related hormones (also called androgens), which fuel the growth of prostate cancer. Men with in the late stages of the disease who were given MDV3100 lived an average of almost 18 months from the start of treatment, some five months longer than those given a placebo. All the men in the study had cancers that continued to spread despite previous hormonal therapy and chemotherapy. “About 32,000 men die of prostate cancer each year in the U.S., and virtually all the deaths are due to this type of cancer,” said Howard I. Scher, MD, chief of the genitourinary oncology service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He presented the findings at a news briefing in advance of the fourth annual Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, being held later this week in San Francisco. In addition, results of the study are being submitted to the FDA in anticipation of gaining approval, Scher told  WebMD. If approved, [...]

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