J&J drug significantly reduces prostate cancer spread

A groundbreaking clinical trial has revealed that adding Johnson & Johnson’s specialized cancer drug, Erleada, to traditional hormone therapy significantly increases the chances of wiping out high-risk localized prostate cancer and cuts the risk of disease progression or death by up to 29%.

The results of the late-stage study, presented Sunday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago, are being hailed by researchers as a major breakthrough. Currently, patients with high-risk localized or locally advanced prostate cancer rely on surgical removal of the prostate gland and radiation. However, nearly half of these patients eventually experience a recurrence, forcing them to undergo further aggressive treatments, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.

The trial followed more than 2,000 surgical candidates over a five-year period to test the impact of taking Erleada—known chemically as apalutamide—alongside testosterone-blocking hormone therapy before and after surgery. Erleada belongs to a class of drugs called androgen receptor pathway inhibitors (ARPIs), which work by choking off the hormonal signals that feed prostate tumor growth.

The data showed that a short, six-month course of the combination treatment made patients nine times more likely to have little to no detectable cancer left in the prostate by the time they reached the operating room compared to those on hormone therapy alone. Specifically, 8.9% of the combination group achieved near-complete elimination of the tumor prior to surgery, compared to just 1% in the standard group. This shorter regimen cut the risk of disease recurrence or death by 20%.

When researchers extended the Erleada combination treatment to a full year, the benefits grew even more pronounced. Men on the 12-month regimen went an average of more than six years before needing any subsequent cancer treatments—nearly doubling the timeline of the solo hormone therapy group. Furthermore, the longer treatment window slashed the overall risk of cancer return or death by 29%.

"The patient benefit here is unequivocal," said Mark Wildgust, J&J's medical affairs lead for oncology. "I think that the evidence is really showing that Erleada is adding something that we had not seen before."

According to J&J, roughly 40% of the 330,000 people diagnosed with prostate cancer annually in the United States fall into the high-risk category. Because no ARPIs are currently approved to treat localized high-risk prostate cancer alongside surgery or radiation, lead researcher Dr. Mary-Ellen Taplin of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute called the new data "paradigm changing" for oncology.

The safety profile of the Erleada combination was consistent with past studies, with the most common side effects reported as hot flashes, urinary incontinence, and erectile dysfunction. First approved in 2018 for later-stage, advanced prostate cancers, Johnson & Johnson now plans to leverage this data to seek global regulatory approvals to expand Erleada's use to these much earlier, curable stages of the disease.

News.Az 

By Aysel Mammadzada