Breakthrough treatment for Prostate cancer

Dendreon Corp, a biotechnology company, recently released a first-of-its-kind prostate cancer treatment that utilizes the body’s natural defense mechanism to fight the disease. It is intended for malignant prostate cancer that is not responding to hormone therapy and that has spread elsewhere in the body. Provenge, as the treatment is called, has been very successful in prolonging the lives of men with advanced prostate cancer. Company studies have showed that by taking Provenge, men with APC actually increased their average life span by four months. Though it may not sound like a lot, this surpasses the three months afforded by the only approved chemotherapy treatment for prostate cancer available, Taxotere. Doctors hope that if this drug is given earlier in the course of the disease, Provenge would have a much greater benefit. Each regimen of Provenge is tailored to the patient’s immune system using a very time-consuming formulation process. Special blood cells that help the immune system recognize cancer as a threat are collected from each patient. These cells are then mixed with a protein found on most prostate cancer cells and another substance to stimulate the immune system. The resulting "vaccine" is given back to the patient as three infusions two weeks apart. Provenge offers an alternative to more taxing treatments of cancer such as chemotherapy, radiation, and invasive surgery. Side effects of Provenge are relatively mild (chills, fatigue, fever, headache). Dendreon estimates that the drug will cost the patients $93,000.

Jonathan Vo