A major advance in cancer treatment Wednesday, February 05, 2020 ENZAMET | CCTG PR17 (NCT02446405) study has been highlighted by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2020 annual report as a major advance in cancer treatment. CCTG was honoured to work with our partners on this global collaborative investigator‐initiated trial led by ANZUP and included the Canadian Cancer Trials Group, Dana‐Farber Cancer Institute, and Cancer Trials Ireland. The results were first presented at ASCO 2019, the trial demonstrated that hormone therapy with a drug called enzalutamide can improve the survival of some men with advanced, hormone‐sensitive prostate cancer. Findings, show that men with this sort of cancer who receive enzalutamide with standard treatment have a 33% improvement in survival compared to men receiving standard treatment alone. In prostate cancer, new research has shown that combining different types of drugs that target the androgen pathway is effective in treating men newly diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer. In the ENZAMET trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02446405), 36 investigators demonstrated that combining the targeted androgen receptor inhibitor enzalutamide with standard androgen suppression improved progression-free survival and overall survival over less-specific targeted androgen-receptor therapy (standard nonsteroidal antiandrogen drugs bicalutamide, nilutamide, or flutamide). Prostate cancer is stimulated to grow by high levels of androgens. The cancer, however, can become resistant, with the ability to survive with even a small amount of androgen. Enzalutamide works by blocking androgen from supporting tumor growth in a more specific way than standard hormone therapies. Overall survival at 3 years was estimated to be 80% for the enzalutamide group, compared with 72% for the standard therapy group. ASCO's 15th Annual Report on Progress Against Cancer Cancer is one of the world’s most pressing health care challenges, with more than 14 million people receiving a cancer diagnosis each year. Thanks to investment and progress in cancer research, people today are living longer with this disease than ever before. Clinical Cancer Advances highlights the most impactful research advances of the past year and identifies cancer research priorities to accelerate progress against cancer. The report was developed under the direction a 20+ person editorial board of experts in different oncology subspecialties, as well as cancer prevention, quality of care, health disparities, and tumor biology. Read the full report and also published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
