Drug slows prostate cancer, trial reveals

A drug used for breast and ovarian cancer is more effective than modern hormone treatments at slowing progression and improving survival in men with advanced prostate cancer, a trial has found.

Olaparib “significantly delayed” cancer progression by about four months, according to the study, led by researchers at the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, and Northwestern University in Chicago.

The genetically targeted drug was compared with the targeted hormone treatments abiraterone and enzalutamide in patientswhohadadvanced prostate cancer and faulty DNA repair genes.

Experts hope it could become the first genetically targeted precision medicine to become a standard treatment for men with prostate cancer.