FDA approves apalutamide (Erleada) for the treatment of non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer

February 14, 2018 – Today the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved apalutamide (Erleada, also previously called ARN-509) for the treatment of non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (non-metastatic CRPC). This clinical setting is when men who are being treated with Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) see their PSA levels begin to rise, but no metastases are visible yet on scans. There were previously no FDA-approved treatments for non-metastatic CRPC, and patients typically continued to receive ADT, despite its diminishing benefit.

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Experts Discuss Emerging Targets, Diagnostics, Therapies in Advanced Prostate Cancer

From the 2018 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium:

Diagnosis and treatment of advanced prostate cancer continue to evolve. A better understanding of the genomics of this malignancy, as well as improved imaging techniques and developments of new therapeutics, are pushing that evolution. Several experts discussed the changing field of advanced prostate cancer management on February 8.

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Summary of State of Immunotherapy, especially Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

By Ravi A. Madan, MD, and William L. Dahut, MD

Although immunotherapies are poised to permanently reshape treatment for bladder and kidney cancers, immune-based therapeutics research in prostate cancer has stagnated. There is immunotherapy available for prostate cancer, however, the delayed effects of treatment and the rare effect on prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels have generated less enthusiasm compared with the rapid and sustained responses in some patients with bladder and kidney cancers who have been treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. In addition, recent negative results of some trials have raised more concerns about the lack of potential for immunotherapy in prostate cancer. Nonetheless, several ongoing studies of immune checkpoint inhibitor combinations are potentially defining a course for immunotherapy development.

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