Men with a certain type of prostate cancer have been shown to respond to a new chemotherapy drug, Sagopilone, plus prednisone in an international trial led by Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute researchers.
The research involved men with androgen-independent prostate cancer that has metastasized, meaning their cancer has spread beyond the prostate and is not longer responding to hormonal therapies. This is the most advanced form of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men in the United States, where it is responsible for more male deaths than any other cancer, except lung cancer.
"We are showing solid activity that this drug shows promise," said Tomasz Beer, M.D., principal investigator. He is the Grover C. Bagby Endowed Chair for Cancer Research, director of the Prostate Cancer Research Program at the OHSU Cancer Institute and associate professor of medicine (hematology/medical oncology), OHSU School of Medicine.
This research will be presented Saturday, May 31 at 8 a.m. at the annual American Association of Clinical Oncology in Chicago.
Of the 37 study participants taking the Sagopilone and prednisone long enough to be evaluated, the majority showed positive results in the reduction of their prostate specific antigens, or PSA. PSA is often elevated in the presence of prostate cancer.