For the first time, a new drug called cabazitaxel helped men with advanced prostate cancer that had stopped responding to standard treatment live longer. Currently, men with advanced prostate cancer receive hormone therapy and when hormone therapy does not work, they receive chemotherapy with the drug docetaxel (Taxotere). When the prostate cancer cells stop responding to treatment with docetaxel, meaning that the drug is no longer able to kill the cancer cells, there is no standard treatment, although mitoxantrone (Novantrone) is commonly used. In this study of almost 1,000 men with prostate cancer no longer responding to docetaxel, men who received cabazitaxel lived longer than men who received mitoxantrone.

What this means for patients

“There are no effective treatments available to help men with advanced hormone-resistant prostate cancer whose disease continues to grow despite standard chemotherapy, and this large study shows that patients who received cabazitaxel live longer,” said lead author Oliver Sartor, MD, Piltz Professor for Cancer Research at Tulane Cancer Center in New Orleans. “This treatment offers men with this advanced form of prostate cancer a new option.” Cabazitaxel is not currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It's important to talk with your doctor about all treatment options, including clinical trials, which are done to help find new treatments such as cabazitaxel.

What to Ask Your Doctor

• What type of prostate cancer do I have?
• What is the stage? What does this mean?
• What are my treatment options?
• What clinical trials are open to me?
• What treatment do you recommend?

For More Information

Prostate Cancer [1]

Understanding Chemotherapy [2]

What to Know about Hormone Therapy for Advanced Prostate Cancer [3]

Clinical Trials [4]