Improved symptom control and quality of life among greatest unmet needs in metastatic-resistant prostate cancer therapy

Symptom control and quality of life is one of the factors the most influences surveyed US and European oncologists' treatment decisions for second- and subsequent-line metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), and that improved symptom control and quality of life is one of the greatest unmet needs in this indication.

Thought leaders interviewed by health care advisory firm Decision Resource expressed optimism that cabozantinib (Exelixis' Cometriq) and radium-223 (Algeta/Bayer HealthCare's Xofigo) will have an advantage over sales-leading abiraterone (Johnson & Johnson/Janssen Biotech/Janssen-Cilag's Zytiga) on this attribute and will help to partially fulfill the large unmet need.

The DecisionBase 2013 report, titled Prostate Cancer (Second- and Subsequent-Line Metastatic Castrate-Resistant): What Advantages Do Surveyed Oncologists and Payers Believe Emerging Therapies Have to Offer in Order to Gain Traction in This Crowded and Competitive Market, finds that surveyed US managed care organization pharmacy directors are most willing to grant favorable formulary status to new second- and subsequent-line mCRPC therapies offering increased median overall survival (MOS) over currently available treatment options. Nevertheless, nearly half of the surveyed payers indicated that they would not reimburse a new therapy priced the same as enzalutamide (Medivation/Astellas Pharma's Xtandi) or higher that offered a three-month improvement in median overall survival over enzalutamide, most commonly stating insufficient clinical benefit to grant reimbursement.