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A new class of drugs successfully targets treatment-resistant prostate cancers and prolongs patients’ lives. The treatment delivers beta radiation directly to tumor cells, is well tolerated by patients, and keeps them alive longer than standard care, according to a phase 3 trial to be presented today at the European Association’s congress. urology, EAU21.
Despite advances in medicine in recent years, metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer remains incurable and fatal. The new treatment, known as Lu-PSMA-617, takes a new approach, targeting a molecule called PSMA, known to be increased on the surface of tumor cells, destroying them and their surrounding microenvironment.
Professor Johann de Bono, Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine at the Institute of Cancer Research, London and Consultant in Medical Oncology at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, and Professor Ken Herrmann, Director of the Nuclear Medicine Clinic at the University Hospital in Essen, Germany, and an international team of researchers set out to determine whether Lu-PSMA-617 was more effective than standard care and recruited 831 patients with metastatic prostate cancer resistant to castration between June 2018 and October 2019. Patients were randomized to receive the more standard treatment. care or standard care only.
They report that the treatment significantly improved patient survival by an average of four months, compared to standard treatment. The median survival time was 15.3 months for the treatment group and 11.3 months for those receiving standard care. Progression-free survival, or the time before a patient’s tumor got worse, was also longer with treatment: a median of 8.7 months versus 3.4 months for patients receiving standard care.
The trial also compared side effects, concluding that health-related quality of life was not adversely affected, and the team concluded that it is an effective and safe drug that can improve quality. care for patients with this advanced prostate cancer.
Professor Ken Herrmann says: “This is a whole new therapeutic concept; a precision drug that directly irradiates a tumor at high incidence. The treatment was well tolerated by the patients and they had an average survival of four months longer with a good quality of life. Lu-PSMA-617 can improve the lives of many men with advanced prostate cancer and their families.
Professor Johann de Bono says: “Our findings show that this powerful radioactive drug can deliver radiation precisely to cancer cells and destroy them, thereby prolonging the lives of patients. I hope that men whose tumors have high levels of PSMA will soon be able to benefit from this very innovative treatment. Currently, the treatment is being evaluated by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for use in the NHS in England and Wales. “
“The use of the PSMA molecule to directly target prostate cancer cells is the start of a new era of precision medicine in the diagnosis and therapy of urology,” says Professor Peter Albers, head of the department of urology of the University of Düsseldorf and President Bureau of the UAE. “LU-PSMA-617 has been tested in what is called a terminal illness and has consistently shown its superiority, which opens the way for studies to treat patients at earlier stages. We have had similar success in diagnostics, using this molecule to improve the way we stabilize tumors. This targeted approach will revolutionize the way we approach the treatment of men with prostate cancer in the future. “
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