A recent clinical trial has shown that the drug abiraterone (which is already being used to treat men with advanced prostate cancer), may also be of very great benefit to patients with localized high-risk prostate cancer.
After 6 months of treatment, the study showed that abiraterone (Zytiga) completely eliminated or nearly eliminated the tumour in the prostate in an unprecendentedly high 34% of men in the trial.
Localized high-risk prostate cancer comprises approx. 15% of all prostate cancer and is often not able to be cured by prostatectomy (removal of the prostate) with most patients eventually dying from the disease.
The disappearance of the tumour in the prostate itself (as shown in the current trial) translates into a much better outcome for patients.
All participants in the trial had hormone therapy (in addition to abiraterone) and all underwent prostatectomy after completing the drug treatment.
A further clinical trial will be required to validate the results but, as yet, has not been planned.
