An Approved Vaccine To Treat Prostate Cancer Has Few Side Effects

An Approved Vaccine To Treat Prostate Cancer Has Few Side Effects.
The newly approved healing prostate cancer vaccine, Provenge, is non-poisonous and has few inconsequential effects, a altered study finds. In April, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine for use in men with advanced prostate cancer who had failed hormone therapy erection. "Provenge was approved based on both protection and clinical data," said guide researcher Dr Simon J Hall, easy chair of urology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.

This refuge text shows that there are very restrictive philosophy effects, Hall added. The advantage of the vaccine for patients with metastatic hormone-resistant prostate cancer is that it has fewer faction junk than chemotherapy, which is the only other treatment option for these patients, Hall explained. In addition, Provenge has improved survival over chemotherapy, he added.

The common survival spell for men given Provenge is 4,5 months, although some patients saying their lives extended by two to three years. "This is a newly present treatment, with very restricted side effects, compared to anything else that a man would be inasmuch as in this state," Hall said. Hall was to present the results on Monday at the American Urological Association annual meet in San Francisco.

Data from four look 3 trials, which included 904 men randomized to either Provenge or placebo, showed the vaccine extended survival, improved mark of fixation and had only mild side effects. In fact, more than 83 percent of the men who received Provenge were able to do operate activities without any restrictions, the researchers noted.

In terms of camp effects, the most non-private were flu-like symptoms such as chills, fever and headache, which were seen in 3,5 percent of the men. Usually it took only a date or two for the symptoms to resolve. More momentous side effects, such as infusion reactions, stilted 3,5 percent of the patients. Cerebrovascular problems stiff 3,5 percent of those who received the vaccine and 2,6 percent of those who received placebo, Hall's set found.

Dr Nelson Neal Stone, a clinical professor of urology and dispersal oncology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, said that "the airs belongings are for example having the flu and they can be managed with aspirin". However, Stone unmistakeable to one big drawback to Provenge: cost. "I've heard $30000, I've heard $90000. I have no guess what it's contemporary to cost. And who's going to pay for it?" he said.

Provenge is a restorative (not preventive) vaccine that is made from the patient's own corpse-like blood cells. Once removed from the patient, the cells are treated with the benumb and placed back into the patient. These treated cells then cause an untouched response, which in turn kills cancer cells, while leaving customary cells unharmed. According to the FDA, Provenge is given intravenously in a three-dose dedicate delivered in two-week intervals.

The vaccine was developed by Seattle-based Dendreon Corp, which conducted prime studies amidst men with advanced prostate cancer who had already failed ensign hormone treatment. According to American Cancer Society estimates, more than 192000 supplementary cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed in the United States each year, and 27360 men go the way of all flesh from the disease.

Prostate cancer is the most banal form of cancer diagnosed in American men, after scrape cancer. More than 2 million American men who have had prostate cancer at some verge are still vivacious today burdock. The death rate is going down and the disease is being found earlier, according to the cancer society.