Drug Extends Life of Prostate Cancer Patients

June 7, 2004 (New Orleans) -- Cancer researchers say they have found a combination of cancer-fighting drugs that prolongs the life of men with advanced prostate cancer. The medication that has cracked the code is the same drug that transformed cancer therapy for advanced breast cancer -- Taxotere.

In studies presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, researchers revealed that cancer therapy combinations that include the cancer-fighting drug Taxotere increased the life span of cancer patients by almost 20%.

On average, the increased life span amounted to a difference of less than three months, but "it is the first time we've been able to move that survival line, and that is important," Robert J. Mayer, MD, director of gastrointestinal oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, tells WebMD.

In two studies, researchers combined Taxotere with another drug. In the first study, Taxotere was combined with the cancer-fighting drug Emcyt. In the second study, Taxotere was combined with the steroid prednisone. Each combination was compared with the standard therapy, Novantrone and prednisone.

Daniel P. Petrylack, MD, associate professor of medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and lead researcher in the Taxotere/Emcyt study, tells WebMD that the findings have changed treatment for men with metastatic prostate cancer.

"Taxotere is now the standard of care, no question," says Petrylack.

Asked about the relatively small increase in average survival, Petrylack says that while the average increase in life span was about three months, "I have patients that have survived for years on this regimen."

Severe Side Effects

Petrylack's study enrolled 770 men with advanced prostate cancer who did not respond to hormone therapy. Three hundred thirty-four men received the Taxotere/Emcyt combination and 332 received standard therapy. The Taxotere-treated men survived an average of 18 months while patients receiving standard therapy survived about 15 months.

In the second study, 334 men received the Taxotere/prednisone combination once a week and 335 received a higher dose of Taxotere plus prednisone once every three weeks, while 337 received standard treatment.

The researchers showed that men who received the higher-dose Taxorere treatment had the best average survival -- 18.9 months -- while men on the lower-dose Taxotere treatment lived an average of 17.4 months. Men given standard therapy survived an average of 16.5 months.

But in all cases, survival advantage came at a cost -- more severe side effects, such as nausea, anemia, and hair loss.

Nonetheless, Petrylack and the lead researcher of the second study, Mario A. Eisenberger, MD, professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, were enthusiastic about the results. "It's true this isn't a home run, but it is a sign of major improvement."

Eisenberger tells WebMD that many of the men in the study "were able to go home, return to work, return to life. That's clinically significant."