Wednesday, May 4, 2011

FDA approves new targeted therapy to treat men with advanced prostate cancer..

In continuation of my update on  Abiraterone ....
We know that, Abiraterone (tradename Zytiga) is a drug currently under investigation for use in castration-resistant prostate cancer (formerly hormone-resistant or hormone-refractory prostate cancer) (prostate cancer not responding to androgen deprivation or treatment with antiandrogens). 

It blocks the formation of testosterone by inhibiting CYP17A1 (CYP450c17), an enzyme also known as 17α-hydroxylase/17,20 lyase. This enzyme is involved in the formation of DHEA and androstenedione, which may ultimately be metabolized into testosterone.This drug was initially discovered at the Institute of Cancer Research in London. 

Recently  approved abiraterone. It improves, by nearly four months, the overall survival rate of men with metastatic chemotherapy- and castration-resistant prostate cancer. Since 2005, the Prostate Cancer Foundation invested $8.2 million in over six research projects to advance independent academic research for investigating abiraterone's mechanism of action and biomarkers to predict patient response...

No comments: