Combination Strategies Explored in CRPC

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An open-label investigator-initiated trial is studying the safety of combining oral anti-androgens with radium-223, notes Neal D. Shore, MD. The open-label phase II study is looking at the combination of radium-223 with abiraterone acetate plus prednisone for patients with symptomatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) with bone metastases. This study is enrolling patients in the pre- and post-chemotherapy setting (NCT02097303).

The REASSURE observational trial is evaluating the short- and long-term safety profile of radium-223 and the risk of developing second primary cancers. The availability of these studies stresses the importance of having an active clinical research arm within each urology practice, Raoul S. Concepcion, MD, believes.

Many urology practices employ clinical coordinators who help to get patients involved in clinical trials and other research endeavors, notes Sanford J. Siegel, MD. Clinical trials allow patients access medications before they are released, Richard Harris, MD, says. Additionally, they allow clinicians the ability to maintain their roles as a scientist and help develop the drugs that will advance patient care.