Targeted cancer drug can improve survival for patients with advanced prostate cancer

Adding a targeted cancer drug to chemotherapy treatment can improve survival for patients with advanced prostate cancer.

The longer-term follow-up analysis of the Cancer Research UK-funded ProCAID trial has been published in the journal European Urology and shows that adding the drug capivasertib to chemotherapy can improve overall survival for men whose cancer had spread to other parts of the body.

Often these patients will be given hormone therapy which can help control the cancer’s spread. But some patients do not respond to this treatment or become resistant over time, meaning the cancer will progress and patients will then need chemotherapy.

Preventing cancer cells from growing

Capivasertib is a targeted cancer drug that stops the signals cancer cells use to grow and divide and researchers therefore wanted to see whether adding this drug to standard chemotherapy treatment could help to control the cancer for longer and improve outcomes for these patients.

150 people took part in the phase II ProCAID trial, with half being given standard docetaxel chemotherapy plus capivasertib, and half given the chemotherapy plus a dummy drug (placebo).

The results showed that although capivasertib did not increase the time before the cancer started to grow again (progression free survival) overall survival was increased for patients in the capivasertib group compared to those in the placebo group.

Dr Simon Crabb, Associate Professor of Medical Oncology and Chief Investigator of the ProCAID trial, said: "This trial has shown that adding the drug capivasertib to chemotherapy can improve outcomes for patients with advanced prostate cancer and may be of particular benefit for patients previously treated with hormone therapy. Larger studies are now needed to confirm the findings from the ProCAID trial and increase our understanding of how best to use this approach."

Results of the ProCAID trial have directly led to the phase III CAPItello-280 trial which is further examining capivasertib plus docetaxel for this patient group.

The ProCAID trial was run by the Cancer Research UK Southampton Clinical Trials Unit which is based at the University of Southampton's Centre for Cancer Immunology.

The trial is funded by Cancer Research UK with additional financial support from AstraZeneca UK Ltd.

Read the full publication in European Urology .

Find out more about the trial on the Cancer Research UK website .