New drug combo attacks prostate cancer on two fronts, say UK researchers

Men with particularly aggressive prostate cancers can be treated more effectively by combining an existing targeted medicine, abiraterone, with a new experimental drug to block two of cancer’s growth signals at once, a major new trial shows.

The new combination extended the time before prostate cancers progressed and spread further in men whose tumors lacked a gene known as PTEN – one of the most commonly deleted tumor suppressor genes in cancer.

A team led by the Institute of Cancer Research, London, and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust assessed the efficacy of the targeted hormone drug abiraterone – standard medicine for many men with advanced prostate cancer – together with a new drug called ipatasertib in men with advanced prostate cancer who had received no prior treatment.