Men with advanced prostate cancer lived nearly four months longer on a new drug from Johnson & Johnson, according to keenly awaited study data that cancer experts said would change clinical practice.

Abiraterone, which could reach the market next year, provides a new option for treating men with an aggressive type of prostate cancer.

Its success underscores recent progress made in tackling prostate cancer, the commonest cancer in men, and comes after two other prostate cancer treatments were approved this year from Sanofi-Aventis and Dendreon

In a large trial of men with prostate cancer who had previously been treated with other available therapies, including chemotherapy, those given the drug together with a low-dose steroid lived on average 14.8 months while patients on steroids plus a placebo survived 10.9 months.

"That 3.9 months may not seem much but you have to understand that in the history of prostate cancer only four drugs have previously ever shown a survival benefit," said lead investigator Dr. Johann de Bono of Britain's Institute of Cancer Research, where the drug was originally discovered.

"This compares very favorably to (Roche's) Herceptin in breast cancer ... These results are likely to alter the standard of care for men with advanced prostate cancer."

The findings were presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) congress in Milan. Martine Piccart, the organization's president-elect, described the results of the 1,195-patient study as "very promising."

Doctors and investors already knew that the clinical trial was successful, since a monitoring committee recommended last month that patients in the placebo arm be offered treatment because of a clear survival benefit.

But the scale of the improvement was only made public at the cancer meeting on Monday.

J&J, which secured access to abiraterone after acquiring Cougar Biotechnology, said it planned to file marketing applications for the new drug in the United States and Europe by the end of the year.

De Bono said patients taking abiraterone generally avoided the unpleasant side-effects associated with chemotherapy, although they did have more mineralocorticoid-related side effects.

John Neate, chief executive of Britain's Prostate Cancer Charity, said the results offered "new hope" to men with advanced prostate cancer who could quickly run out of treatment options.

By Ben Hirschler

(Editing by Greg Mahlich)

Source : reuters.com