An Australian study has shown that hormone therapy with the drug enzalutamide can improve the survival of some men with advanced, hormone-sensitive prostate cancer.
The Enzamet (‘Enzalutamide with standard first-line therapy in metastatic prostate cancer’) study is the work of the Australian and New Zealand Urogenital and Prostate Cancer Trials Group (ANZUP).
Enzamet was selected for inclusion in ‘Clinical cancer advances 2020: ASCO’s annual report on progress against cancer’ from the American Society of Clinical Oncology, released on World Cancer Day this week (February 4).
The report highlights the most important clinical research advances of the past year and identifies priority areas where ASCO believes research efforts should be focused.
The trial showed that men with this sort of cancer who receive enzalutamide with standard treatment have a 33% improvement in survival compared with men receiving standard treatment alone.
Explaining the results from the Enzamet treatment, ANZUP Chair and Head of Monash University’s Eastern Health Clinical School Professor Ian Davis says there has been a “60% improvement in the time it takes to detect the cancer growing again”.
“These results were much better than we thought they might be when we started the trial,” he said.
Professor Christopher Sweeney, co-chair with Professor Davis of the Enzamet trial said: “Inclusion in ASCO’s annual report is a testament to the fact that this is one of the most significant findings yet in clinical trials for men with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer – and a great example of effective international collaboration.”
In Australia, in the 1980s, the cancer survival rate was less than 50%.
Today, almost 7 in 10 Australians will survive for at least five years after a cancer diagnosis, and in some cancers, the survival rate is as high as 90%.
