A clinical trial led by Yale University in the United States has shown promising results for a new drug for prostate cancer, as it helped reduce tumor activity and alleviate pain in patients with metastatic prostate cancer.
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Daniel Petrilak, professor of medicine at Yale University School of Medicine and lead author of the study, said this is "the first drug of its class" for treating prostate cancer. The study was published in the journal Clinical Oncology.
The clinical trial, which included phases one and two, involved patients previously diagnosed with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, an advanced and fatal form of the disease.
Doctors usually treat prostate cancer by lowering testosterone levels to temporarily slow its growth, but this advanced type continues to grow even with the hormone reduced.
The new drug, Bavdegalutamide, is the first PROTAC-type drug that targets androgen receptors (proteins that receive signals from male hormones and play a key role in stimulating the growth of prostate cancer) to undergo clinical testing.
A new class of cancer drugs works by stimulating the natural process of proteolysis within the cell, so that certain proteins are broken down and eliminated rather than simply disabled.
Yale researcher Craig Crowes has contributed to the development of this technology, including the first drug of this class approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of breast cancer.
Pavegalatamide was designed to treat castration-resistant prostate cancer by overcoming its resistance to other hormonal therapies.
Phase 1: A daily dose of 420 mg was found to be safe for patients who had previously been treated for the disease.
Phase II: The drug's effectiveness was evaluated by measuring prostate-specific antigen (PSA - the main marker for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC)) before and after treatment
Greater effectiveness in some mutations
The researchers also studied the drug's effect in cancers that carry different mutations in androgen receptors.
The drug was found to achieve better results in cases that included:
- T878 mutation.
- and/or H875 mutation.
In these cases, it led to a greater reduction in PSA levels, indicating the potential use of PROTAC drugs within the framework of "precision medicine".
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