The Chemistry, Food and Drugs Division of the Trinidad Tobago Ministry of Health has approved the introduction of Abiraterone Acetate to the country. This is the first oral administration of testosterone medication for the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, according to news reports out of the twin-island Republic.
Abiraterone Acetate is a new therapy administered which is given as a single dose to prevent androgen production at the testes, adrenal glands and the tumour itself via block of the CYP 17 enzyme. According to news reports, clinical trials have shown that this new therapeutic resource for the standard therapy of patients with hormone-resistant tumors reduces the risk of death by approximately (35%), thirty-five per cent. Abiraterone Acetate is available in Trinidad and Tobago under the trademark Zytiga™.
“The primary objective of treatment in patients with advanced prostate cancer is to block the action of androgens such as testosterone, since this may result in the regression of the tumor whose development is stimulated by this hormone. However, with passing time many patients who had initially responded to treatments aimed at blocking the production of testosterone, start to produce the hormone again, which reactivates the disease”, news reports released.
According to the National Cancer Registry of Trinidad and Tobago, prostate cancer leads cancer statistics in the population with 22% of all cases. Amongst males, prostate cancer accounted for 42% of all new cases of cancer. Worldwide, prostate cancer is the second type of cancer most frequently diagnosed in men, and the fifth type overall. Near 1.1 million new cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed worldwide in 2012, and more than 300,000 men died because of the disease.
The treatment of this condition depends on its stage at diagnosis and may include surgery, hormone block, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and other protocols. Chemotherapy is used in those cases where the disease has become “castration-resistant” which means that the cancer continues to progress despite hormone blocking treatment.
