Thousands of men in England with advanced prostate cancer will be able to take a medicine at home that can help them live longer after it was approved for NHS usage.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has suggested that people whose cancer has spread take Talazoparib, also known as Talzenna and developed by Pfizer. It is a medication that you take once a day.
It should be taken with enzalutamide, another medication that suppresses the hormone testosterone’s influence on prostate cancer cells. It is safe for those who can’t have chemotherapy or can’t handle other traditional treatments.
People with the condition have called the move a “real lifeline.”
Talazoparib stops particular enzymes from fixing damaged DNA in cancer cells, which makes them die over time.
People who took the medicine with enzalutamide lived approximately nine months longer and had more time before their cancer turned worse, according to trials.
Nice says that roughly 2,400 patients in England can get the medicine, which is now available on the NHS.
Helen Knight, who is in charge of evaluating medications at Nice, stated, “We are still focusing on what matters most to people by recommending this effective treatment that can make a huge difference in the lives of people with advanced prostate cancer.”
People who can’t undergo chemotherapy and can’t take other drugs have few treatment alternatives, but they can take talazoparib plus enzalutamide at home, which makes it a convenient and flexible option.
Nice’s suggestion comes only days after new research showed that prostate cancer is now the most frequent cancer in the UK.
In 2022, Prostate Cancer UK revealed that 64,425 men had the disease. This was more than the 61,640 persons who had breast cancer, which had been the most common type of cancer before.
The numbers are up 24% from last year, when 51,823 males were diagnosed with the condition.
A year ago, prostate cancer officially became the most frequent cancer in England. However, new numbers from Scotland, along with statistics from Wales and Northern Ireland, made the UK-wide number possible.
Amy Rylance, assistant director of health improvement at Prostate Cancer UK, stated, “It can be very upsetting for a man with advanced prostate cancer who can’t have chemotherapy when hormone therapy stops working.”They have fewer choices for treatment and a lot of uncertainty.
That’s why it’s so thrilling that this medicine is now approved.
“Getting talazoparib approved is a real lifeline for these men. Research shows that men who get talazoparib with enzalutamide live almost nine months longer with their loved ones than men who only get enzalutamide.”We know that the treatment can work even better for men with certain genetic differences, such as BRCA and HRR.
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