Abiraterone and MVD3100 Take Androgen Deprivation to a New Level

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Men with advanced prostate cancer that has become resistant to conventional androgen-deprivation therapies have limited options: chemotherapies that extend life for just a few months—and are highly toxic—or the newly approved and expensive vaccine sipuleucel-T (Provenge), which is given by repeat blood infusions.

Two new options on the horizon—both in pill form and both designed to lower androgen levels more than older drugs—could extend those options.

Closest to market is abiraterone acetate, which inhibits testosterone synthesis. At the European Society for Medical Oncology's annual meeting last October, researchers presented phase III clinical trial results showing that this small molecule increased overall survival by a statistically significant 3.9 months compared with placebo—14.8 months vs. 10.9 months—among patients who were no longer benefiting from chemotherapy with taxotere (Docetaxel). Johnson and Johnson unblinded the trial ahead of schedule so that control-group patients could also be treated with the drug.

The next step is U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, according to principal investigator Johann de Bono, M.D., from the Institute for Cancer Research in London.