Research reveals that a new hormone treatment could be used to fight certain type of prostate cancer that is resistant even to removal of testicles by surgery. The research is divided into three phases out of which two phases have been successfully completed. Though the results look promising, there is no surety that this hormonal treatment would receive approval from the government.
The treatment called MDV3100 is under research currently for fighting a type of cancer called castration-resistant prostate cancer. Prostate tumors develop due to testosterone. One of the cancer treatments involves castration. With the help of additional drugs, the production of testosterone can be curbed and thus development of tumor cells can also be prevented. If some of the cancer cells become dormant during the treatment, the cells can any time become active and grow again. Moreover, they survive with very little testosterone and become resistant to castration. This creates further complication as the tumor cells in the prostate continue to mature.
About 140 men suffering from this type of prostrate cancer were given MDV3100 treatment. Varying results were observed when the patients were given dosages from about 30 mg to 600 mg everyday. It was found that a maximum dosage of 240 mg was found to be the tolerance limit of the patients and they responded well to the anti-tumor activity.
The third phase of research has begun where this treatment is compared to a placebo in order to see whether it can help patients in advanced stages to live for more time.
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