Novel oral hormone therapy promising for prostate cancer treatment with radiation therapy: JAMA

A high impact study led by Daniel Spratt, M.D., Vincent K. Smith Chair in Radiation Oncology at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center demonstrates the safety and efficacy of a novel oral hormone therapy, relugolix, in conjunction with radiation therapy for treating men with localized and advanced prostate cancer. This work is published in JAMA Oncology.

This research, encompassing an individual patient level analysis from two multinational randomized clinical trials, showcases relugolix's ability to rapidly achieve and maintain low testosterone levels, a necessary condition for some men’s prostate cancer treatment, in both short-term (24 weeks) and longer-term (48 weeks) therapy periods. A total of 260 men participated in these studies and received the hormone therapy with radiotherapy, showing significant castration rates with relugolix of 95% and 97% for short-term and longer-term therapy, respectively.

“Remarkably, Relugolix demonstrated a faster return to baseline testosterone levels compared to traditional therapies, a crucial aspect for patients' quality of life post-treatment. This rapid recovery could significantly reduce the adverse impacts associated with long-term testosterone suppression, such as cardiovascular risks and bone density reduction”, said Dr. Spratt.

For the first time, Dr. Spratt and colleagues demonstrated that there was no difference between leuprolide, an LHRH agonist, and relugolix in time to castration resistant-prostate cancer, a near uniformly lethal form of the disease.