BLOGGERS: MARK SCHOLZ, MD & RALPH H. BLUM

The co-authors of Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers, blog alternate posts weekly. We invite you to post your comments.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

A Xofigo Update

BY MARK SCHOLZ, MD

Since Xofigo was FDA approved two years ago, the doctors at Prostate Oncology—Dr. Richard Lam, Dr. Jeffrey Turner and I—have been avid users.  So this seems to be a good time to provide an informal update of our experience with Xofigo to the present time.

The clinical trial that led to Xofigo’s approval by the FDA was a prospective, placebo-controlled study demonstrating improved survival in Xofigo-treated men compared to men treated with placebo alone.  The trial showed a very low incidence of side effects and good relief for men who were suffering from bone pain.

Xofigo is made out of radium, a radioactive element. After it is injected into the blood stream it concentrates near the cancer and delivers a potent dose of radiation.  So after Xofigo is injected into the patient, it travels through the blood stream and concentrates in the irritated areas of the bone and emits radiation where the cancer is most active.  Since prostate cancer spreads almost exclusively to bone, an injection of Xofigo ends up targeting most if not all of the cancer. Radiation consists of high energy, subatomic particles that blast cellular DNA. Once the DNA of the cancer cell has been hit, the cell is rendered incapable of reproduction.  If you stop cancer reproduction you basically stop the cancer.

To almost everyone, radiation conjures up horrible visions of toxicity. Fortunately, bone marrow toxicity is rare in men because Xofigo emits a different type of radiation, “alpha particles,” rather than the standard “photon type” of external beam radiation. Alpha particles dissipate their energy over a very short distance, only a couple of millimeters. External beam radiation therapy, the type of radiation that has traditionally been relied on to kill cancer cells in the bone, needs to be used very judiciously because the radiation is “beamed” through the body to hit the target in the bone. Typically it causes irreversible damage to the surrounding bone marrow.

Over the last two years at Prostate Oncology, we have treated over 50 patients with Xofigo.  The treatment has been very well tolerated.  Occasionally, we have seen a few patients with mild diarrhea or nausea that has been easily managed with common medications. Men experiencing pain from cancer usually see either partial improvement or total resolution of their pain after one to three of the monthly treatments.

As reported from the original study that led to FDA approval, even though pain relief occurs and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels in the blood decline, PSA may continue to rise.  This “disconnect” between PSA and other clinical parameters such as pain and ALP can be disconcerting to doctors and patients alike.  The reason that it occurs is unclear. A similar phenomenon has been observed with another FDA-approved cancer therapy called Provenge.

Experts hypothesize that the survival advantage from Xofigo and Provenge is due to a slowing of cancer progression rather than an actual regression of the cancer. This “slowing” is powerful enough to extend patients’ lives but insufficiently powerful to consistently induce a decline in PSA.  However, in our practice at Prostate Oncology notable declines in PSA have been observed in a few patients treated with Xofigo.  One patient dropped his PSA from 50 down to zero and his PSA still remains at undetectable levels.  Another recent patient has dropped his PSA from 150 down to 8.

For the patients on Xofigo who have rising PSA levels, it is logical to consider adding another effective anticancer agent such as Xtandi, Zytiga or Taxotere.  It is encouraging to know that several studies now show that Xofigo can be safely combined with these other effective therapies.

Xofigo has been a very welcome addition to our anticancer armamentarium.  The standard FDA approved protocol consists of a course of monthly treatments continued for a total of six months.  Further trials are in progress to study the potential advantages of continuing Xofigo for longer than six months.  Our experience to date suggests that longer therapy would indeed be advantageous in some instances.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I stumbled upon this blog while trying to do some research for my fathers current prostate cancer situation. He was diagnosed about a year and a half ago with stage IV prostate cancer, as it was detected in his lymph nodes. He went through one round of chemo (doxitare) and it seemed to help however it had already metastasized in his bones. He went through the standard hormone injections of Lipton and casadex, which stopped working upon conclusion of his chemo treatments. He is half way through his Xofigo treatments but he seems to be going backwards in terms of improvement (my own personal opinion). Prior to his injections he was in minimal pain, nothing some ibuprofen couldn't handle if necessary, even with a fractured vertebrae. He is half way through his injections and now seems to be in constant pain which he is controlling with Tylenol w/ codeine at this point, so that he can at least sleep through the night. He has been having episodes where his blood pressure is dropping and he just doesn't seem to have the energy to get through the day. He is still hopeful and remains positive that Xofigo is working, but is looking towards what may be next in terms of a treatment. He mentioned a treatment for melanoma that has yet to be approved for such uses as prostate cancer, something called Yervoy I believe. Are there any new avenues that we can be pursuing to get him to a place of 'remission'?

Anonymous said...

Doxitare=Docetaxel (Taxotere)
Lipton=Lupron
Casadex=Casodex (an oral therapy, not an injection)
A lot of the above doesn't make a lot of sense, but what about Zytiga and Xtandi, both oral therapies? What about Jevtana, an advanced taxane that usually works when Taxotere fails? Has he had genetic testing? If he is BRCA 1 or 2 positive Lynparza may work. There is also Cometriq. The last two are oral therapies approved for other cancers, but he may be able to get them approved. Yervoy is a monoclonal antibody that can have severe or fatal autoimmune reactions.