Drug offers hope for prostate cancer treatment

A REVOLUTIONARY pill offering new hope to men with aggressive prostate cancer which is no longer responding to current treatments could be available within a year.

Trial results reported by Janssen were so promising that applications will now be made to market the drug worldwide. It means the drug, abiraterone acetate, could soon provide a new lifeline for men with advanced prostate cancer.

A Phase III trial – the last hurdle before a drug reaches the market – was halted early on ethical grounds when it became clear that patients treated with the pill were doing far better than those given a placebo “dummy” drug.