Hope in a Bottle
The sad reality is that every 2 3/4 minutes a man is diagnosed with prostate cancer in America, equivalent to 190,000 new cases each year, according to the American Cancer Society. There is one death of this disease in American men every 20 minutes, approximately 80 men every 24 hours. If a male has a relative with prostate cancer, his risk of the disease doubles, with two relatives the risks increase fivefold--and with three close relatives the risk is a whopping 97%.
However, a new investigational drug called MDV3100 may alter the course of this disease that claims the lives of roughly 32,050 men a year in the U.S. alone. This oral drug may prove to be quite literally `hope in a bottle` for some. In clinical trials that were conducted in conjunction with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center on roughly 1,200 men, the MDV3100 drug reduced the risk of death from prostate cancer by an incredible 37% when compared to a placebo pill.
MDV3100`s main function is to bind androgen receptors (hormones responsible for control and maintenance of male characteristics) within cancer cells and prevents them from allowing the cancer to grow. Medical oncologist Dr. Daniel Danila, associated with Memorial Sloan Kettering ,says ``It`s a great new drug. It is specifically designed for patients with advanced prostate cancer that progressed despite other treatments. It has been used with patients post-chemotherapy. It`s still a hormone, so it`s very well tolerated and it shrinks prostate tumors and drops the PSA.`` (PSA, Prostate-Specific Antigen, is a substance released into a man`s body by his prostate gland. webmd.com)
Researchers are hoping that the drug will become more available to men with prostate cancer over the course of the next year; they are also investigating its effect on patients with breast cancer. For more information, speak with your doctor and visitwww.cancer.org