Study Drug Holds Promise As Alternative To Castration For Early Prostate Cancers

"In patients with locally-advanced disease, a daily 150 mg dose of bicalutamide, (Casodex TM) following initial radiotherapy, has shown significant clinical benefits in terms of overall survival and progression-free survival, compared with radiotherapy alone," says study author William A See, M.D., chairman and professor of urology at the Medical College in Milwaukee, and chief of urologic surgery at Froedtert Hospital.

The double-blind, randomized study followed 1,370 early prostate cancer patients in the U.S., Sweden and Europe who received radiotherapy with curative intent. After a median follow-up of 7.2 years, the researchers found that those receiving a daily, 150 mg oral dose of Casodex TM reduced their risk of disease progression by 44 percent, and their overall risk of death by 35 percent, compared to those receiving a placebo.

"Although many of the adverse effects of castration therapy are manageable, they can have a detrimental effect on quality of life," says Dr. See "Here we have evaluated the efficacy and tolerability of a non-castration-based therapy, and found the survival rates to be similar."