Carmel, CA Prostate Cancer : New Drugs Provide New Hope, But At A Steep Price
by Richard Kuehn on 10/12/12
Prostate cancer can be easy to detect but for those which don't catch it in time it can be devastating. However, many of those with prostate cancer have new reason to hope because there have been a number of new options for treating the cancer due to several recent drug approvals. The latest, enzalutamide (being sold under the brand name Xtandi) just hit the market last month and has shown the best survival rate of any drug for prostate cancer. There are expected to be about 242K cases this year, making it the second most common type of cancer, behind skin. One problem, with these treatments, however, is they remain expensive until they become more widely used. Two drugs were approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in 2010, Provenge which sells for $93,000 for a standard course of three treatments, and Cabazltaxel, sold under the brand name Jevtana, which costs $50,000 for a treatment of six cycles. In 2011, another called Abiraterone (sold under the name Zytiga) costs $47,000 for an eight-month treatment which costs $47,000. The latest, Xtandi, costs just under $60,000. Let's hope the costs come down on these drugs soon.
