Abiraterone Helps Improve Outcomes in Metastatic PCa

Abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) plus prednisone significantly improves survival in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who have undergone chemotherapy, according to findings reported in The New England Journal of Medicine(2011. 364:1995-2005) and at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association in Washington, D.C. The subjects, who had previously received docetaxel, were randomly assigned to receive prednisone 5 mg twice daily with either 1,000 mg of abiraterone acetate (797 patients) or placebo (398 patients). After a median follow-up of 12.8 months, abiraterone acetate users showed better results than placebo takers in terms of overall survival (14.8 vs. 10.9 months), time to PSA progression (10.2 vs. 6.6 months), progression-free survival (5.6 vs. 3.6 months), and PSA response rate (29% vs. 6%), but also experienced more fluid retention, hypertension, and hypokalemia.