A new blood test can help advanced prostate patients choose their therapy.
Choices for advanced prostate patients today include traditional chemotherapy or two new, advanced drugs that have saved lives but are very expensive.
The new blood test by Epic Sciences of San Diego detects a mutation called AR-V7. If patients have this mutation, they don't respond to the new drugs and are better off using traditional, and much cheaper, therapies, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The new drugs have extended survival for many patients with advanced prostate cancer, except those patients with the mutation. The drugs are Xtandi from Medivation Inc., and Astellas Pharma, Inc., of Japan, and Zytiga by Johnson & Johnson. Xtandi costs about $9,000 per month, and Zytiga is about $8,000 per month. Traditional chemotherapy drugs, docetaxel, and cabazitaxel are generally a few hundred a month.
About 50,000 U.S. patients have prostate cancer that has advanced despite hormone therapies. These patients would be candidates for the new drugs, but studies suggest as many as 20 percent have the AR-V7 mutation. A study by Genomic Health found that no prostate cancer patient with AR-V7 responded to the new drugs.
195 words 0916-091.txt