7th Oct 2025 10:10
(Alliance News) - Patients with a certain form of aggressive prostate cancer could benefit from a new combination of drugs which slow cancer growth, according to a new study.
Academics said their findings support wider use of genetic testing for cancer patients after their study showed that patients with certain genetic mutations appeared to benefit more than others.
The new global study, led by experts from University College London, UCL, assessed whether adding treatment known as niraparib – which is already used to treat ovarian and fallopian tube cancers – to standard treatment would benefit patients.
Niraparib, produced by London-based GSK PLC, is a type of treatment known as a PARP inhibitor. PARP is a protein which helps damaged cells to repair themselves.
These treatments stop the PARP from doing its repair work in cancer cells, leading to cancer cell death.
Researchers assessed whether adding this treatment to standard care for prostate cancer that has spread would benefit patients.
Usual treatment for this kind of cancer is called of abiraterone acetate and prednisone, AAP.
Some 696 men with an average age of 68 from 32 countries around the world were recruited to the trial.
These men all had alterations in genes involved in an essential type of DNA repair, known as homologous recombination repair, HRR.
And some 56% of the men also had mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which are involved in DNA repair.
Half of the men received the combination of treatment while the other half received usual care.
Publishing their findings in the journal Nature Medicine, the authors said that the combination treatment reduced the risk of cancer growth by 37% compared to AAP alone in all patients, and by 48% in patients with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations.
The researchers said that the findings on survival were "immature but favour niraparib".
They highlighted that men who took the combination treatment were more likely to suffer side effects – including anaemia and high blood pressure – compared to those who were given the standard treatment.
"Combining niraparib with AAP significantly improved radiographic progression-free survival in patients harbouring BRCA1/BRCA2 or other HRR gene alterations, suggesting clinical benefit with this combination for these patients," they wrote.
Professor Gerhardt Attard from the UCL Cancer Institute and lead author of the study, said: "Although current standard treatments are very effective for the majority of patients with advanced prostate cancer, a small but very significant proportion of patients have limited benefit.
"We now know that prostate cancers with alterations in HRR genes account for a significant group of patients whose disease recurs quickly and has an aggressive course.
"By combining with niraparib we can delay the cancer returning and hopefully significantly prolonging life expectancy.
"These findings are striking because they support widespread genomic testing at diagnosis with use of a targeted treatment for patients who stand to derive the greatest benefit.
"For cancers with a mutation in one of the eligible HRR genes, where niraparib has been approved, a doctor should consider a discussion that balances the risks of side effects against the clear benefit to delaying disease growth and worsening symptoms."
GSK shares fell 1.1% to 1,598.00 pence each on Tuesday morning in London.
By Ella Pickover, PA Health Correspondent
Press Association: News
source: PA
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