The previous clinical trials have showed that the new therapeutic option for the standard therapy of patients with hormone-resistant tumors reduces the risk of death by about 35%.
In Trinidad & Tobago, abiraterone acetate is available under the trademark Zytiga.
The administered orally abiraterone acetate prevents androgen from being produced at their three sources testes, adrenal glands and the tumor itself, through the strong block of the CYP 17 enzyme.
According to the company, androgens are hormones that promote both male development and sexual features, and prostate cancer cells have been shown to need them to grow.
The disease leads cancer statistics in the population with 22% of all cases, according to the National Cancer Registry of Trinidad & Tobago.
Janssen medical director for Venezuela, Central America and the Caribbean Carmen Martinez said abiraterone acetate is an androgen synthesis inhibitor (testosterone) treatment that reduces the risk of death by about 35% of patients already treated with hormone therapy and chemotherapy.
"Approximately 20% of all patients with prostate cancer progress to a severe stage of the disease and could now benefit from this new therapeutic alternative," Martinez said.
The company said that one of the most salient aspects of the drug compared to other oncologic treatments is that it possesses a new mechanism of action, with a benefit as to the overall survival rate, and a tolerable toxicity profile.
In addition, the drug also provides relief for bone pain that often afflicts patients at advanced stages of the disease.