
"Health wise I am feeling great. I am a big supporter of trials - it allows new treatments and drugs to be brought in.”
This trial looked at custirsen with cabazitaxel and prednisolone for men who had prostate cancer that had spread and other treatments were no longer working.
Cabazitaxel is a chemotherapy drug that doctors sometimes use to treat prostate cancer. In this trial, researchers looked at a type of targeted cancer drug called custirsen (OGX-011) with cabazitaxel and a steroid called prednisolone.
The men who took part in this trial had prostate cancer that had spread, and had got worse despite having hormone therapy and docetaxel chemotherapy.
The aim of the trial was to see if the combination of custirsen, cabazitaxel and prednisolone is a useful treatment for men in this situation.
This trial showed that custirsen, cabazitaxel and prednisolone was not better than cabazitaxel and prednisolone for prostate cancer that had spread.
Results
This trial recruited over 600 men with prostate cancer. They were put into 1 of 2 treatment groups at random, and:
In 2016 the research team analysed the results to find out how well the treatments worked. They looked at how many people had died so far and found it was similar in both groups:
They looked at how long the men taking part lived for, and found that was also similar in both groups:
Side effects
More than 9 out of 10 men taking part had side effects, but some were mild or short lived. Some had side effects that were more serious:
The most common side effects were a drop in white blood cells and red blood cells, tiredness or lack of energy and bone plain.
Conclusion
The research team concluded that custirsen did not help men with prostate cancer that had spread live longer. They suggest that cabazitaxel and prednisolone is used for men who have already had hormone therapy and docetaxel chemotherapy.
We have based this summary on information from the research team. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists () and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team who did the research. We have not analysed the data ourselves.
Please note: In order to join a trial you will need to discuss it with your doctor, unless otherwise specified.
Karim Fizazi
Tomasz Beer
Sebastien Hotte
Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC)
NIHR Clinical Research Network: Cancer
OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc
If you have questions about the trial please contact our cancer information nurses
Freephone 0808 800 4040
"Health wise I am feeling great. I am a big supporter of trials - it allows new treatments and drugs to be brought in.”