New prostrate cancer drug offers hope

A new prostate cancer drug has proven so effective that scientists stopped a clinical trial of it early so that all patients involved could partake in treatment.

A UC San Francisco-led study of Johnson & Johnson’s Zytiga, a hormone treatment used in addition to traditional steroid therapy, found the drug doubled the time it takes for the disease to spread when compared to steroid therapy alone, according SFGate.com. Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval of Zytiga’s use among men whose prostate cancer had spread to other parts of the body despite chemotherapy. The FDA would have to approve its use for men who have yet to undergo chemotherapy before the drug can be introduced to a broader market.

About 200,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year, making it the second-most common form of cancer in American males next to lung cancer, resulting in about 30,000 deaths annually.