ProstateCancer??

Pharmaceutical treatment for prostate cancer was approved as Proscar (Finasteride) in 1992 for treating prostrate gland enlargement. Recently, two other drugs, Nexrutine and Satraplatin, have undergone research aiming to find more sources of pharmaceutical treatment for prostate cancer.

Pharmaceutical Treatment for Prostate Cancer – Proscar

Five years after Merck & Co.’s Proscar was approved for prostrate disorder, the drug Finasteride was approved by the FDA for male pattern baldness. So Merck marketed it, under the brand name Propecia, as a hair loss treatment for men.

Proscar was tested in doses of 5 mg a day at the PCPT (Prostate Cancer Prevention Trials). The 5-mg dose was chosen since it was the usual treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia, which is prostate enlargement that isn’t cancer. (Only 1 mg a day is prescribed for baldness.)

The 5-mg dose was shown to lower prostate cancer risk in PCPT subjects by 25%.

But the problem with this particular pharmaceutical treatment for prostate cancer was this: the cancer that did develop despite the drug appeared to be more prone to growth and spreading. The reason for this is as yet unknown.

According to the PCPT, 6% to 19% of subjects reported side effects from taking the drug. The most common was erectile dysfunction. Less common was enlargement of the male breast glands.

Although later trials showed that these side effects could stop if you stopped taking the drug, some men who’ve purchased Proscar commercially say the side effects last for months, even years, after they stopped using it. Some consumers of the lower dosage Propecia say they notice long lasting side effects as well.

Pharmaceutical Treatment for Prostate Cancer – Nexrutine

Researchers at the University of Texas have tested Next Pharmaceuticals’ Nexrutine, a patented extract taken from the Philodendron bark. Prior to 2006, Nexrutine was mainly marketed as a prostate inflammation and pain reliever.

The University of Texas study revealed that Nexrutine was an effective pharmaceutical treatment for prostate cancer as it worked at inhibiting prostate cancer cell growth.

What’s more, Nexrutine was proven to fight existing cancer cells through apoptosis, or cell death.

Pharmaceutical Treatment for Prostate Cancer – Satraplatin

In 2006, Satraplatin manufaturer Spectrum Pharmaceuticals presented new data at a symposium hosted by the American Society of Clinical Oncology in San Francisco.

Satraplatin is the drug maker’s lead candidate as a cure for prostate cancer. The Spectrum-sponsored study tested 17 prostate cancer patients who had advance solid tumors.

Most of the patients had undergone an average of three prior chemotherapy sessions. This pharmaceutical treatment for prostate cancer stabilized the disease in two patients, while one patient showed a partial response.

Side effects, such as diarrhea and nausea, were reported to be mild and easily controlled by oral prophylactics.