A new strategy to manage some more advanced prostate cancers is proving successful, Elizabeth Tracey reports

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The combination of a drug called abiraterone with others routinely used in prostate cancer helps men with one stage of the disease remain disease free longer, two new studies find. William Nelson, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, explains.

Nelson: What they found was that both the abiraterone containing arms in each of the trials that were done were superior to androgen deprivation therapy and at six years 82% of folks were free of any evidence of metastatic prostate cancer when they got abiraterone versus 69% when they didn’t. Enzalutamide didn’t add much. I think it is an advance. The idea is you come in with high risk prostate cancer, you’re likely to get radiation therapy. At this point you’ll probably get androgen deprivation therapy along with abiraterone.  :28

Nelson says the good news is oncologists are learning more about managing many kinds of cancer, including prostate cancer, at different stages, to maximize the benefits of different treatments. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.