Britain’s NHS has issued a new guideline according to which men with advanced stage of cancer can opt for highly targeted hormone therapies at home, instead of receiving the dose of chemotherapy.
The move is being seen by experts as a strategy to reduce the burden on itself during the coronavirus pandemic without affecting urgent and essential cancer treatments.
The precision-medicine approach is already used to treat other cancers.These medicines are smarter, kinder treatments and could extend the lives of many more patients.
According a report by BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/health-52542106, Stuart Fraser, a prostrate cancer patient, 66, from Ashtead, in Surrey, will now take four enzalutamide tablets a day.
“Being diagnosed was a huge shock,” he said.”What made it even more worrying was that, because of coronavirus, I was told I couldn’t have the usual treatment of chemotherapy, which would have affected my immune system, said Stuart Fraser.
“When I heard about other possible treatments like abiraterone and enzalutamide, I launched a petition to try to make sure men like me could get hold of it.
Prof Nick James, of the Institute of Cancer Research, in London, who has led major trials into targeted prostate cancer drugs, said: “I’m pleased and relieved that many more men should now benefit from targeted hormone therapies right from when they are first diagnosed.
“It will greatly lower the risk of exposing vulnerable patients to the coronavirus and lightens the load on our hard-pressed hospitals.
The Institute of Cancer Research, London, has broadly welcomed the approval of targeted hormone therapies enzalutamide and abiraterone as first-line NHS treatments for men with advanced prostate cancer.
Its experts said newly published interim guidance by NHS England was an example of how modern treatments that can be taken at home could relieve pressure on the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic.
Tablets taken at home
Standard treatment for men when they are first diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer is hormone therapy – either on its own, or together with docetaxel chemotherapy.
Docetaxel is normally given as six three-weekly infusions in hospital and can significantly weaken patients’ immune system and cause inflammation of the lungs – putting men at risk during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Treatment with enzalutamide or abiraterone can not only prevent patients having to receive docetaxel chemotherapy but is also given as tablets which men can take at home – avoiding unnecessary pressures on the NHS.
Abiraterone was discovered at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and jointly developed with The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. The ICR and The Royal Marsden also led a major Phase III clinical trial of enzalutamide.
NHS’s Updated Guidelines
NHS England has updated its interim guidance on treatment change options during the COVID-19 pandemic to offer enzalutamide for men with newly diagnosed, advanced prostate cancer – and abiraterone for patients who cannot tolerate enzalutamide.
Abiraterone is a highly innovative treatment which was discovered at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), and which we jointly developed with The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. The ICR and The Royal Marsden also led a major phase III clinical trial of enzalutamide.
Two large clinical trials, STAMPEDE and LATITUDE, found that men given abiraterone first line lived longer, and had a better quality of life, than those given hormone therapy with docetaxel chemotherapy.
