Data from the study indicate that the combination regimen was well tolerated with preliminary anti-tumor activity observed. These patients are at high risk for having disease which has spread to their bones, but none exhibited any clinical or radiographic signs of bone metastases at the time of treatment.
“We're hypothesizing that the combination of hormones and radiation could be used to treat microscopic bony metastasis, which could help reduce death rates due to prostate cancer,” said Dr Richard Valicenti, associate professor of radiation oncology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center.
In the study patients with newly diagnosed prostate cancer were treated with a regimen consisting of one month of hormonal therapy followed by a single administration of Quadramet followed by four more months of hormonal therapy in combination with external beam radiation therapy.
Cytogen said it was working toward expanding the proof of concept for early intervention in larger follow-on studies and to do so in a clinical setting where efficacy findings could be obtained in a cost-effective manner.