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Investigational Drug Improves Outcomes among Prostate Cancer Patients with Bone Metastases

In a Phase III clinical trial, the investigational drug radium-223 chloride improved survival and delayed bone complications among men with hormone-refractory prostate cancer and bone metastases. These results will be presented at the 2012 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.

Metastatic cancer refers to cancer that has spread to distant sites in the body. Several types of cancer—including prostate cancer—have a tendency to spread to the bone. Bone metastases can lead to serious problems such as fracture and spinal cord compression, and may require treatment with surgery or radiation therapy.

Radium-223 chloride is an investigational drug that delivers very targeted doses of radiation to areas of cancer in the bone.
To assess whether radium-223 chloride improves outcomes among prostate cancer patients with bone metastases, researchers conducted a Phase III clinical trial among 922 men with hormone-refractory cancer. Patients were treated with best standard treatment plus either radium-223 or a placebo.

Median overall survival was 14 months in the radium-223 group and 11.2 months in the placebo group.
In addition to prolonging overall survival, radium-223 also delayed the development of bone complications such as fracture. Time to first bone complication was 13.6 months in the radium-223 group and 8.4 months in the placebo group.

The results of this study suggest that radium-223 improves outcomes among prostate cancer patients with bone metastases. Plans are underway to evaluate radium-223 in combination with other cancer treatments, and for patients with other types of cancer.

Reference: Sartor AO, Heinrich D, Helle SI et al. Radium-223 chloride impact on skeletal-related events in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) with bone metastases: A phase III randomized trial (ALSYMPCA). Presented at the 2012 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium. February 2-4, 2012.San Francisco,CA. Abstract 9.