A Phase III trial of Sanofi-Aventis‘s investigational treatment cabazitaxel has shown significantly increased survival for metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer patients.
The Tropic trial demonstrated that cabazitaxel, an investigational compound, plus prednisone/prednisolone significantly improved overall survival and progression-free survival in patients with metastatic (advanced) hormone-refractory prostate cancer whose disease progressed following treatment with docetaxel-based chemotherapy.
The multi-centre randomised TROPIC trial for the drug assessed 755 patients whose disease had progressed despite previous docetaxel-based chemotherapy.
The results showed cabazitaxel, along with prednisone/prednisolone, significantly cut the risk of death by 30% as well as improving the median overall survival.
Cabazitaxel has been shown to inhibit cell division and tumour cell proliferation by binding to and stabilising tubulin, a protein in the microtubules of cells that provides a skeleton for maintaining cell shape.
Cabazitaxel recently received fast track designation from the US Food and Drug Administration.
