News

• MDV3100 increases prostate cancer survival after docetaxel
• Published on Feb 21, 2012

MDV3100, the novel oral androgen-receptor signalling inhibitor developed by Astellas and Medivation, increased overall survival by 4.8 months (18.4 vs 13.6 months) in men with advanced prostate cancer after failure of docetaxel-based chemotherapy, the AFFIRM trial has shown.  

• Critical response to ‘adjunctive’ dutasteride
• Published on Feb 21, 2012

A trial published in the Lancet suggesting that dutasteride could be a useful adjunct to active surveillance in men with low-risk prostate cancer has been criticised by an editorial in the same journal (Lancet 2012; published online 24 Jan. doi:10.1016 /S0140-6736(11)61619-X and doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60066-X).  

• NICE may decline abiraterone
• Published on Feb 21, 2012

NICE is not minded to recommend abiraterone (Zytiga) for, in combination with prednisolone, castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer after failure of docetaxel-based chemotherapy (www.nice.org.uk).  

• Radiopharmaceutical halves skeletal events in metastatic prostate cancer
• Published on Feb 15, 2012

Radium-223 chloride (Alpharadin) reduced by almost half the risk of pathologic bone fracture (3.6 versus 6.7 per cent with placebo) and spinal cord compression (3.1 versus 6.0 per cent) in men with hormone-refractory prostate cancer that had metastasised to bone, a New Orleans trial has shown.  

• Smoking hastens cognitive decline in men
• Published on Feb 15, 2012

Smoking increases the rate at which cognitive function declines with age in men – but not women, a new analysis of the Whitehall study has shown (Arch Gen Psychiatry 2012; published online 6 Feb. doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.2016).