Advanced Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials

Advanced prostate cancer clinical trials treat prostate cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes or other major organs of the body. Prostate cancer begins with uncontrolled cell growth on the prostate gland, which produces semen. While prostate cancer can usually be detected at an earlier stage, it is also possible for the cancer to grow undetected.

Prostate cancer is classified as advanced once it has metastasized or spread to other parts of the body, which means the cancer cells broke off from the prostate gland tumor and invaded nearby tissue of other organs.

What Are the Benefits of Advanced Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials?

There is no cure for advanced prostate cancer and general treatment can prove to be ineffective considering the advanced stage of the cancer. Therefore, many people consider clinical trials which offer new treatments, research possibilities, and a new chance for hope.

Although many drugs have been approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) over the last fewyears for the treatment of prostate cancer, there are still a wide number of drugs and treatments that have yet to be tested and developed. Clinical trials allow medical experts the opportunity to research new methods of treating prostate cancer, as well as manage the symptoms and side effects of the cancer with drugs that have yet to be approved for commercial use. Clinical trials also allow close monitoring and care from health teams in order to record your progress.

What Causes Prostate Cancer?

One of the greatest benefits that can come from participating in an advanced prostate cancer clinical trial is that your results have the potential of helping other prostate cancer patients’ symptoms, side effects and/or general wellbeing. Clinical trials provide insight for researchers on the drug’s behavior and effectiveness.

What Are Some of the Newest Treatments Approved for Advanced Prostate Cancer Through Clinical Trials?

In the last few years, new drugs for advanced prostate cancer have been approved by the FDA after clinical trial research and evaluation.

Some of these new drugs include:

• Cabazitaxel
• Enzalutamide (Xtandi)
• Abiraterone acetate (Zytiga)
• Apalutamide (Erleada)

Enzalutamide and Apalutamide are androgen receptor (AR) inhibitors that act on the exterior of the cells. Abiraterone acetate is a CYP17 inhibitor that delays the growth of androgens within the cancerous cells.

General treatment for prostate cancer includes hormone therapy, radiation therapy, chemotherapy therapy, immunotherapy, and surgery.