Latest prostate cancer research could provide boost for J&J

In the UK portion of the trial, named STAMPEDGE, involved 1,917 patients who were separated into two groups – those taking hormone therapy alone and those receiving the drug in combination with abiraterone. The combination treatment was found to result in a 70% reduction in disease progression.

Abiraterone is presently only used in the UK when men with prostate cancer have stopped responding to hormone therapy but now the study has found that benefits from the drug are effective when taken at an early stage.

Abiraterone functions by shutting down the production of the hormones that directly aid the growth of prostate cancer cells. In the trial, the combination group experienced 184 deaths against 262 in the hormone therapy treatment alone group. Overall, the study found that the combination treatment could extend the lifespan of those with high-risk prostate cancer by 37%.

Sir Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said: "These results could transform the treatment of prostate cancer. Abiraterone can clearly help many more prostate cancer patients than was first thought. The STAMPEDE trial is changing the face of prostate cancer because the flexibility of the trial design means that we can investigate a number of different treatment options rapidly and in parallel, enabling scientists to get results much more quickly than they usually would."

NICE has already determined that it was not cost-effective for patients to have access to the drug before it had become advanced, the latest results from the trial could see this position re-evaluated. J&J is currently going through the process of extending the indication of the drug in Europe, Brazil, Switzerland and Taiwan, China, taking into account this latest research.