Drug Reduces Lesions that Precede Prostate Cancer

In clinical trials, the drug toremifene (Acapodene) has demonstrated the ability to eliminate 72% of the lesions that precede prostate cancer and lower the incidence of prostate cancer by 50%. A larger-scale clinical trial is now under way.

High-grade premalignant lesions, or prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN), indicate a high risk of prostate cancer, with 30-50% of men with a high-grade PIN developing cancer within the next three years. Currently, there are no treatments for high-grade PIN.
GTx, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company in Memphis (TN, USA), has licensed toremifene from Orion Pharma, a Finnish pharmaceutical company. Orion Pharma's toremifene (Fareston) was previously cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of advanced breast cancer.

"Acapodene has some very exciting possibilities for the treatment of prostate cancer through an avenue that hasn't been explored before now—prevention,” said John Seigne, M.D., assistant professor of surgery at Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa (FL, USA) and lead investigator of the study.