UK: Major breakthrough in prostate cancer treatment

Submitted by Matt on Tue, 2008-07-22 04:17

This is FABULOUS news! Excerpt:

'British researchers have made a dramatic breakthrough against a lethal form of prostate cancer.

Trials of a new pill have shown that it can shrink tumours in up to 80 per cent of cases, and end the need for damaging chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
...
Its side-effects can include loss of libido, breathlessness, fatigue, fluid retention and weight gain. Some men may be left impotent, but the effects are far less than with chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Abiraterone is now being used in a 1,200-patient international study, including at ten sites across the UK. If it is licensed as expected in 2011, it will have to await approval by the rationing watchdog NICE before it is made freely available across the NHS.

Dr de Bono describes prostate cancer as the 'Cinderella cancer' because it receives just a quarter of the funding of breast cancer - £10million against £40million last year - even though it kills just as many people.'

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Here is the comment I sent in case it is not politically correct enough to be published:

"This is very good news for men, but don't start celebrating yet. Having an effective treatment is one thing: identifying men who need it and getting it to them is another. Remember this government is set against any national caner screening programme for men - it would rather waste billions elsewhere. But if we don't complete the virtuous circle of identifying men in need and treating them, the unnecessary deaths will continue to mount up."

For non-UK readers, you should be aware that there is no national screening programme in the UK for any male-specific cancer, no funding for any, no plans for any, and apparently no political will to create any. There are however well-established national programmes for cervical and breast cancer, exclusively for females.

Civilisation: man's greatest, and most unappreciated, gift to women

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Submitted by PaulP on Tue, 2008-07-22 06:19

Just wondering how feminists here in the U.S. will effectively try to blocks its importation or use here - indirectly, by some such logic as "they haven't tested it on women yet" or a hundred other reasons they could come up with.

-ax

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Submitted by axolotl on Tue, 2008-07-22 17:27

"Just wondering how feminists here in the U.S. will effectively try to blocks its importation or use here - indirectly, by some such logic as "they haven't tested it on women yet" or a hundred other reasons they could come up with."

I don't think they will do that, I just saw a piece on the news about this and it said it could also be used to treat breast & bowel cancer.

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Submitted by Broadsword on Tue, 2008-07-22 17:54

I really don't know what you are on about.There have been other
medicines known to have been able to alleviate the condition
but they were never employed because of the cost.Even if this works it will be at least 3 years before it comes on the market
Does anybody know any of these guinea pigs?I'm not sure I believe that there is such a thing as a cure but I hope I am wrong.

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Submitted by saracen395 on Tue, 2008-07-22 21:48

But feminists and others may use that to demand more testing on women, as priority over testing on additional men. I hate to be a pessimist, but there has to be a feminist "gotcha" to this thing somewhere along the line. We will see.

-ax

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Submitted by axolotl on Wed, 2008-07-23 02:55