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A drug for prostate cancer victims who have run out of other treatment options has been approved for use on the NHS.Enzalutamide extends life by at least five months for men who have stopped responding to hormone treatments or chemotherapy.
Doctors hope the substance – developed in the UK – will help turn prostate cancer from a killer disease into a chronic illness with much longer survival rates.
Trials show men taking the drug lived for five months longer than they would have done, with almost half having a better quality of life as a result.
Around 10,500 British men have advanced prostate cancer that has become resistant to standard hormone treatments. The new drug, which is a pill taken at home, costs around £25,000 for an average course of treatment.
But the manufacturer Astellas Pharma has cut the price through a patient access scheme which makes it cost-effective, according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the NHS rationing body.
The drug was created by British scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and the Royal Marsden Hospital, London.
Professor Alan Ashworth, chief executive of the ICR said: ‘Advanced prostate cancer is very difficult to treat, and it’s taken a co-ordinated effort to finally bring new drugs into the pipeline, after decades where there were no options once old-style hormone treatment stopped working.
‘What we’re seeing now is an unprecedented period of success for prostate cancer research, with four new drugs shown to extend life in major clinical trials in just two years, and several others showing promise.
‘It truly is a golden age for prostate cancer drug discovery and development.’
Enzalutamide was assessed in 1,199 patients with advanced prostate cancer who had previously received chemotherapy.
Survival with enzalutamide was 18.4 months on average, compared with 13.6 months for men receiving a placebo.
Killer: Prostate cancer, pictured here under a microscope, killed men within 14 months without the new drug
The trial went so well that an independent monitoring committee recommended it be stopped early in November last year so the men who received the placebo could be offered enzalutamide.
In November last year, the trial’s Independent Data Monitoring Committee recommended the trial be stopped early and men who received the placebo be offered enzalutamide.
Owen Sharp, of Prostate Cancer UK, said: ‘This is great news for men … we need clinicians to have options at their disposal to do what counts – extend the lives of men with this disease when other options have run out.’
He added: ‘The truth is that there are precious few treatments for a condition which not only seriously impinges upon the life of those with advanced disease, but kills one man each hour. This is a victory for these men today.
Professor Carole Longson, of the Centre for Health Technology Evaluation at Nice, said: ‘There are few treatments available for patients at this stage in their cancer so we are very pleased that we are able to produce draft guidance recommending enzalutamide.’
The drug is expected to become available on the NHS in England early next year.
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