PROCTOLOGical magic?!. . .FDA approves new prostate cancer drug. . .

[NewtonMP2100]

. . .seems to work better. . .


FDA approves new prostate cancer drug

. . .Federal regulators on Monday said they have approved the first new drug to treat prostate cancer in several years.

The injectable treatment from privately held Ferring Pharmaceuticals fights the cancer by lowering levels of testosterone, which promotes the growth of tumors in the prostate.

Food and Drug Administration officials said older drugs in the same class can actually increase testosterone production before they begin lowering them. In studies on prostate cancer patients, Ferring showed that its drug, degarelix, does not raise testosterone levels.

According to the FDA, patients treated with degarelix had testosterone levels comparable to those seen after the testes are removed.

"Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among men in the United States and there is an ongoing need for additional treatment options," Richard Pazdur, the FDA's cancer drug chief, said in a statement. . .


new medicine. . .

[yeoman]

I'm surprised they're able to say that it takes several years to treat prostate cancer, or maybe they meant to say ". . .Federal regulators on Monday said they have approved for the first time in several years a new drug to treat prostate cancer."

[MacManMaz]

I dunno, seems to me that given the choice I might pick radiation over shots that chemically castrate you. I have familial experience with prostate cancer and there are a lot of other less drastic treatments out there.

[deckeda]

I read the link and didn't see anything mentoned about it taking several years to treat prostrate cancer --- only that it "fought" it by lowering testosterone.

After diagnosis, within "several" years you'd be dead unless something else was done first.