Breaking down a breakthrough: Pros & cons for PRS

PROSTATE CANCER: Aside from non-melanoma skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in the United States. There were 240,000 estimated new cases and deaths from prostate cancer just in 2011.  (Source: CDC)

PROVENGE: Provenge is a cell therapy that aims to train the immune system to attack tumor cells. It’s made using cells from a patient's own immune system, so it cannot be warehoused like many other drugs. The process of making Provenge involves the exposure of a patient’s immune cells to a protein that functions as a prostate cancer-associated antigen. An antigen is a substance that causes the body to react with an immune response. This process activates the patient’s immune cells against prostate cancer to help the immune system better fight the disease. The most common side effects reported with PROVENGE are chills, fatigue, fever, back pain, nausea, joint ache, and headache. These are not all the possible side effects of Provenge treatment. (Source: Dendreon.com, Provenge.com)

THE DRUG DEBATE: A new survey of cancer doctors is found the miracle drug has some cons as well. The percentage of patients who are deemed eligible for Provenge seems to be going down, declining from 37% to 24%. Of the 67% of total responders who did not have access to Provenge at the time of the survey, just 50% indicate they will prescribe Provenge once it becomes available. (Source: Forbes.com)

A NEW MIRACLE? A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows, the newly approved prostate cancer pill Zytiga may extend life by up to four months in men with spreading cancer who have already been treated with chemotherapy. It inhibits a protein that helps form male hormones. Men who took the new pill also saw greater responses in levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) than men who received placebo. This survival edge was considered so significant that men who received the placebo were permitted to switch to the new drug before the study was completed.