Adding abiraterone to standard therapy helps men with high-risk prostate cancer to live longer
22 Dec 2021
Adding the drug abiraterone to standard hormone therapy helps men with high-risk prostate cancer that has not spread elsewhere in the body to live longer. This result from the STAMPEDE trial was published in The Lancet journal yesterday.
STAMPEDE looked at the impact of abiraterone, when used either with or without another drug, enzalutamide, when added to standard hormone therapy for men with prostate cancer that had not spread elsewhere in the body.
988 men were randomised to receive standard of care (hormone therapy with or without radiotherapy). They were compared to 986 men who were randomised to receive abiraterone, plus standard of care (hormone therapy with or without radiotherapy). Of those in the ‘abiraterone group’, 527 men also received enzalutamide.
Abiraterone (also known as abiraterone acetate, or Zytiga) is a type of hormone therapy that works in a different way to standard hormone therapy. Abiraterone is currently licensed to treat prostate cancer that has spread to other parts of the body or has stopped responding to standard hormone therapy.
The proportion of men whose cancer hadn’t spread after six years in the ‘abiraterone-based therapy’ group was 82%, compared with 69% in the ‘standard of care’ group.
The proportion of men alive after six years in the ‘abiraterone-based therapy’ group was 86%, compared with 77% in the ‘standard of care’ group.
Adding the drug enzalutamide as well as abiraterone to standard treatment did not provide additional benefits over adding just abiraterone. Men who had both enzalutamide and abiraterone as well as standard treatment were more likely to report experiencing severe side-effects than those who had just abiraterone and standard treatment. These severe side-effects included erectile dysfunction, high blood pressure, tiredness and liver problems.
The STAMPEDE trial is funded by Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council, Prostate Cancer UK, Astellas, Clovis Oncology, Janssen, Novartis, Pfizer and Sanofi-Aventis.