Thousands of men with advanced prostate cancer to be offered pill which lowers risk of death by a third
- Britons with advanced prostate cancer are given a pill to reduce the risk of death by 1/3
Thousands of men with advanced prostate cancer will be offered a pill that could reduce the risk of death by a third.
Experts claim the drug, olaparib, offers a lifeline to men with the most treatment-resistant form of the disease.
It comes just days after it was given the green light to treat advanced ovarian cancer after studies showed it could reduce the risk of death by two-thirds.
In prostate cancer, research showed that it could significantly slow the progression of the disease.
Men who took the drug in addition to hormone treatment abiraterone had their cancer controlled on average for eight months longer than men who took the hormone drug alone – and their risk of death also fell by 34 percent.
The combination will now be available to men after the NHS spending watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, approved the treatment last week.
Prof. Noel Clarke, consultant urologist at The Christie in Manchester, said it provided a 'real, significant benefit'.
He added: 'We have never seen such an improvement in survival in this group of patients with any other drug. Most treatments add another two and a half months, which is three times as long.' More than 52,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in Great Britain every year.
Up to 20 percent are classified as 'castration resistant' – meaning the cancer has grown despite patients being treated with drugs to keep down testosterone levels, which can cause the disease. Many of the 10,000 men who die from cancer each year fall into this category.
The drug, made by AstraZeneca, is a PARP inhibitor, which blocks a protein that cancer cells use to repair themselves. Without the protein, the cells die.
Now, men who are resistant to hormone treatment and who cannot or do not want to get chemo can also use it in addition to abiraterone and another drug, prednisone.
Amy Rylance, from Prostate Cancer UK, said: 'Olaparib and abiraterone are highly effective drugs and, if prescribed at the same time, give these men valuable extra time before their cancer progresses.'