AstraZeneca’s Zoladex extends survival in prostate cancer

The study by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), involving nearly 1,000 patients with locally advanced prostate cancer, is one of the longest and largest studies of its type. The study shows that administering Zoladex (goserelin) following radiotherapy reduces the progression of prostate cancer and significantly improves survival.

The RTOG study evaluated the effectiveness of administering goserelin to patients with prostate cancer treated with radiotherapy. Nearly one thousand (977) patients with locally advanced prostate cancer received either radiotherapy followed by monthly adjuvant goserelin 3.6mg, or radiotherapy alone followed by observation and goserelin administration at relapse.

Results showed that, for patients receiving goserelin adjuvant to radiotherapy, significant improvements were seen in terms of overall survival, disease-free survival, the likelihood of distant metastases and of local failure.

Goserelin, first introduced in 1987, is a luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonist (LHRHa) which reduces levels of sex hormones and is used to treat prostate cancer in men and hormone-dependent breast cancer in pre- and peri-menopausal women.

“These data provide new hope for long term survival for prostate cancer patients,” said Dr Colleen Lawton from the RTOG. “By adding hormonal therapy, we can now begin to think in terms of increased possibilities of freedom from prostate cancer.”