Dr. Vogelzang Discusses the Addition of Chemotherapy to ADT in Men With Prostate Cancer

Nicholas J. Vogelzang, MD, member of the US Oncology Network, site research leader for Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, discusses results from the phase III CHAARTED (E3805) study that examined the addition of chemotherapy to androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for the treatment of men with newly diagnosed metastatic, hormone-sensitive prostate cancer.

Researchers and oncologists have attempted to improve the efficacy of ADT with leuprolide (Lupron) numerous times, but until now attempts have been unsuccessful. The results from this study represent one of the top 4 advances presented at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting, Vogelzang says, and will affect the way oncologists think when treating this population of patients.

The CHAARTED study, which was led by Christopher Sweeney, MBBS, from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, enrolled 790 men who would normally have received ADT to treat metastatic prostate cancer that had spread to the bones, lymph nodes, liver, or lungs. In the study, patients were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive ADT alone or ADT in combination with the chemotherapy docetaxel.

The study found that the benefit of adding 6 doses of chemotherapy to ADT was obvious—the median overall survival was 13.6 months longer in the ADT-plus-docetaxel group compared with the ADT alone group (57.6 vs 44 months; HR = 0.61; P = .0003). Although the study was conducted in an older population, the side effect profile was modest with the combination.