New prostate cancer treatment: what's here, what's coming

This page provides brief summaries about new prostate cancer treatment that is either available now—or is in development. It will be updated regularly, so check back to find out what’s being touted as the latest treatment on prostate cancer blogs, drug and device manufacturer web sites, government, and other institutional web sites. Also check our News You Can Use section.

April 29, 2010: Dendreon Corporation announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved their drug Provenge (sipuleucel-T) for the treatment of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic metastatic, castrate-resistant (hormone-refractory) prostate cancer.

February 17, 2010: A very small clinical study (29 men) conducted by researchers at Queen's University suggests that a very low dose of nitroglycerin may slow and even halt the progression of prostate cancer. While larger studies are needed, this is a very interesting new prostate cancer treatment.

November 25, 2009: GlaxoSmithKline announced that it is withdrawing its US Supplemental New Drug Application for Avodart (dutasteride) for prostate cancer risk reduction among men at increased risk of developing the disease. The company expects to resubmit the file soon and they state that their action was not the result of new findings related to safety or efficacy.

November 13, 2009: Debiopharm and Ipsen have confirmed French regulatory clearance for a six-month sustained-release formulation of Decapeptyl, a LHRH agonist and new prostate cancer treatment for both locally advanced and metastatic prostate cancer. It is expected that Ipsen will launch the drug in France in the first quarter of 2010.

October 20, 2009: Satraplatin is an orally administered platinum-derived chemotherapy agent from Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which is being studied for use in men with advanced, hormone-refractory prostate cancer.

June 24, 2009: The Mayo Clinic reports that two men who had advanced and inoperable prostate cancer have made remarkable recoveries following combination treatment with hormone therapy and an experimental immunotherapy drug called ipilimumab. Both men had their tumors shrink and their PSAs drop to levels where they were able to have surgery. Further research on this potential new prostate cancer treatment is planned.

May 26, 2009: UCLA urologists have opened enrollment for the West Coast site of a national study using high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to treat prostate cancer recurrence following radiation therapy. Several thousand HIFU procedures have been performed in other countries, but the treatment is currently considered to be investigational in the United States.

May 25, 2009: Researchers at the Center for Holistic Urology at Columbia University Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia are investigating a novel herb-based therapeutic called Zyflamend. They suggest that Zyflamend provides an anti-inflammatory mechanism of action to decrease prostate cancer proliferation in cell testing.

April 14, 2009: Dendreon Corporation announced today that the pivotal Phase 3 IMPACT study of the new prostate cancer treatment PROVENGE® (sipuleucel-T) met its primary endpoint of improving overall survival in men with advanced prostate cancer, compared to a placebo control. The magnitude of the survival difference observed in the intent to treat population resulted in the study successfully achieving the pre-specified level of statistical significance defined by the study's design. The safety profile of PROVENGE (which is still an investigational treatment) appeared to be consistent with prior trials.

April 9, 2009: Howard Hughes Medical Institute reports that a new therapy for metastatic prostate cancer has shown promise in early clinical trials with men whose disease has become resistant to current drugs. The drugs are second-generation antiandrogen therapies that prevent male hormones from stimulating growth of prostate cancer cells. In a phase I/II safety trial, 22 of 30 men who received low doses of one the drugs had a sustained decline in their PSA level. Larger phase III clinical trials are planned to evaluate this new prostate cancer treatment, including its effect on survival in men with metastatic cancer.

March 23, 2009: The Cancer Institute of New Jersey is testing whether using an arthritis pain drug (Celebrex®) and a cholesterol-lowering drug (Lipitor®) together hold any promise in slowing or stopping the growth of prostate cancer when they are combined.

March 11, 2009: Sicel Technologies, Inc. has received clearance from the FDA to begin marketing DVS®-HFT, a new version of the company's DVS (Dose Verification System), a wireless implantable dosimeter that measures the actual radiation dose at the tumor site as men with prostate cancer are undergoing external beam radiation therapy.

March 4, 2009: Ferring Pharmaceuticals USA announced the commercial availability of degarelix for injection (the trade name is pending). Degarelix is a new injectable gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) receptor antagonist that has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of hormone sensitive advanced prostate cancer. This new prostate cancer treatment is available for order through traditional and specialty pharmacy distributors, as reported on PR Newswire.

March 1, 2009: Positive preliminary results have been reported from a Phase II study of AT-101 in combination with docetaxel and prednisone in men with docetaxel refractory, castrate resistant prostate cancer. AT-101, is Ascenta Therapeutics’ oral, pan-Bcl-2 inhibitor. In this study, fourteen of 37 men treated had at least a 30 percent decrease in PSA level and seven men achieved a confirmed partial response (defined as a PSA decline of 50 percent or greater).

January 21, 2009: Researchers assessing both preclinical (in vitro and and in vivo data) and clinical trials on the effect of phytochemicals (plant-derived compounds), including genistein, lycopene, epigallocatechin gallate, resveratrol, and mistletoe, have determined that these substances have no therapeutic use to prevent tumor progression or extend survival.

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