A pill shown to extend the life of men with an aggressive prostate cancer may soon be available for use in the U.K. and continental Europe. On July 22nd, 2011 a medical body in Europe called the 'European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use' recommended that Zytiga be approved as a treatment option for prostate cancer.
The medication, discovered by British scientists, has been shown helpful for those with an aggressive prostate cancer that has not responded to chemotherapy or to other medications. Also known as abiraterone acetat, Zytiga will now be considered by the European Commission, a process could take up to three or more months.
If approved by that body, Zytiga could be available for use in treating metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer sometime in the early Fall. However, in the U.K. the drug would not be then available for prescription on the National Health Service (NHS) plan; it would first have to go through a lengthy NHS approval process. It's not certain what the cost of treatment with this medication will be, though initially it may be high.
Prostate Cancer: Zytiga Approval in the United States
This medication has recently gone through the approval process in the United States, where it was fast-traced and approved in under six months. In the U.S. a clinical trail was halted because results were so good it was felt the placebo group should also have Zytiga as an option. It was soonafter approved and is now being prescribed to patients in combination with the steroid prednisone.
In the U.S. trials Zytiga prolonged life by, on average, four months, 14.8 months survival with the medication, 10.9 months with the placebo. "Zytiga prolonged the lives of men with late-stage prostate cancer who had received prior treatments and had few available therapeutic options," Dr. Richard Pazdur said in a recent press release. Dr. Pazdur is the director of the Office of Oncology Drug Products in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
Prostate Cancer: Testosterone Targeted
Zytiga works by inhibiting the male sex hormone testosterone; testosterone helps prostate cancers to grow. The drug targets a protein, CYP17, that is a major element int he production of testosterone, thereby reducing the growth of cancer cells.
This medication is not without side effects which have included persistent coughing, diarrhea, fluid retention, hot flashes, hypertension, increased urination during the night, indigestion,irregular heartbeat, joint swelling and upper respiratory tract infections.
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