A major international clinical trial showed that adding the drug enzalutamide to standard hormone therapy can cut the risk of death by over 40% in men whose prostate cancer returns after initial surgery or radiation.
This combination therapy was tested on over 1,000 men with high-risk recurrent prostate cancer—meaning their PSA levels (a marker for the disease) were rising quickly, indicating a high chance of the cancer spreading. Researchers found that after eight years, those who received the combination had a 40.3% lower death risk compared to those on other treatments.
Experts call this a “game changer,” as hormone therapy alone has not improved survival for these high-risk patients in 30 years. The findings are expected to establish the enzalutamide-plus-hormone-therapy combination as the new standard of care for men with high-risk biochemically recurrent prostate cancer.