Janssen’s Zytiga launched in the UK
pharmafile | September 21, 2011 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Zytiga, prostate cancer
Janssen’s new advanced prostate cancer treatment Zytiga has been launched in the UK.
Zytiga (abiraterone acetate) has been shown in clinical trials that it helps prolong survival for men with advanced prostate cancer. An estimated 10,500 men in the UK have advanced prostate cancer that has become resistant to standard hormone treatments.
The once-daily pill officially is launched in the UK today after the European Commission approved it for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer earlier this month. Zytiga is licensed for use in combination with the steroids prednisone or prednisolone, by men whose disease has developed resistance to conventional hormone therapies and docetaxel-based chemotherapy.
Abiraterone is a new type of treatment for prostate cancer that works by blocking the synthesis of testosterone in all tissues including the tumour itself, not just the testes. This testosterone would otherwise continue to fuel prostate cancer growth and spread.
Abiraterone was discovered at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in what is now the Cancer Research UK Cancer Therapeutics Unit and further developed at the ICR and The Royal Marsden hospital in London.
The ICR’s chief executive Professor Alan Ashworth said: “This drug was discovered in the UK at The Institute of Cancer Research. Its launch is the culmination of immense hard work and dedication by scientists and clinicians here and around the world. To have reached the point where thousands of prostate cancer patients will be able to benefit from this life-extending treatment is hugely rewarding.”
Results of a major international phase III trial of almost 2,000 men jointly led by Professor Johann de Bono from the ICR and The Royal Marsden showed that patients given the drug lived on average 15.8 months compared to 11.2 months for men taking a placebo. Pain also eased for a higher proportion of patients taking abiraterone, while side-effects were easily manageable and reversible.
The ICR and the Royal Marsden offered testimony from one patient who is still living nine years after being diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer.
When John Ward, 68 from West Dulwich, was diagnosed with prostate cancer nine years ago it had already spread to his spine, and doctors told him he had only one or two years to live. He started taking abiraterone in 2007 and is still healthy enough to continue working in the film industry.
“I don’t think I would be alive today if it wasn’t for abiraterone. I’m still doing very well on it after nearly four-and-a-half years,” Mr Ward said.
Professor Johann de Bono said: “Prostate cancer kills one man each hour in the UK so there is a need for new therapies. As a doctor, I’m pleased to have this important new treatment option available for my patients who are no longer responding to standard drugs.”
Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said: “We’re delighted to see that abiraterone is now available in the UK especially given the role Cancer Research UK played in the early stages of its development. It could help treat the 10,000 men diagnosed with aggressive forms of advanced prostate cancer in the UK each year.
“NICE must now decide as quickly as possible whether the drug should be made routinely available to all appropriate patients. Meanwhile, decisions about whether patients can be given this drug will have to be made locally or through the Cancer Drugs Fund.
“It’s important that promising new drugs are made available to patients who need them and we look forward to the NICE decision on this drug which we hope will help improve survival for men with this disease.”
Andrew McConaghie
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