A drug already proven effective in battling breast cancer could help men win the war against prostate cancer, according to a landmark study out of London.
The drug, called talazoparib, is taken as a daily pill and is already used successfully by breast cancer patients, according to the Sunday Times.
The report, citing research by the Institute of Cancer Research in London and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, said that phase two trials of the drug halted the progression of advanced prostate cancer by an average of 5.6 months – double the time possible with existing treatments.
“Talazoparib is now among a handful of precision medicines that have been shown to be safe and effective at controlling advanced prostate cancer,” said Matthew Hobbs, director of research at Prostate Cancer UK. “We need to drive progress in this area as quickly as possible.”
The treatment was found to be particularly effective for men with a mutated BRCA gene who are genetically predisposed to prostate cancer – similar to the mutation carried by Angelina Jolie, which increased her risk of ovarian and breast cancer.
The Lancet oncology journal published the results of the study this month.