LONDON, March 21 (UPI) -- A new study shows the bone-loss drug Raloxifene also shows promise in treating prostate cancer.
According to a study published in the April issue of the British Journal of Urology International, researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have shown that a daily dose of Raloxifene in patients with prostate cancer experienced a slowing or stopping of the cancer's growth.
"It used to be that to show effectiveness through research studies, cancer drugs needed to shrink tumors by 50 percent," said David Agus, research director of the Louis Warschaw Prostate Cancer Center at Cedars-Sinai and lead investigator of the study.
"Now, the new way of thinking about the effectiveness of cancer drugs is whether they can slow cancer's growth, which ultimately may significantly benefit patients," he said.
The researchers tested Raloxifene over two to three years, first via a phase 2 study where they identified a beta isoform of the estrogen receptor in prostate cancer tissue samples, then in studies of animals with human prostate cancer, and finally, in human clinical trials.
"We undertook this study because we desperately need new therapies for patients with advanced prostate cancer," Agus said.
The findings have "implications for the approximately 35,000 men who will die this year of advanced prostate cancer," the researchers said.
