"Health wise I am feeling great. I am a big supporter of trials - it allows new treatments and drugs to be brought in.”
A trial of mitozantrone or docetaxel chemotherapy for advanced prostate cancer
Cancer type:
Prostate cancer
Status:
Results
Phase:
Phase 3
This trial was looking at chemotherapy for prostate cancer that had spread and was no longer responding to hormone therapy.
The trial compared 2 different ways of giving the chemotherapy drug docetaxel with another chemotherapy drug, mitoxantrone.
Summary of results
The trial team found that having docetaxel was better than mitoxantrone for men with advanced prostate cancer.
This trial recruited 1,006 men. They were put in to 1 of 3 treatment groups
- 335 had docetaxel every 3 weeks
- 334 had docetaxel once a week
- 337 had mitoxantrone once a week
The researchers looked at how well the men’s pain was controlled, their quality of life, their PSA blood level and how long they lived for. In all cases those who had docetaxel had better results than those who had mitoxantrone.
For the men having docetaxel every 3 weeks the results were
- 73 (22%) reported improved quality of life
- 150 (45%) reported better pain control
- 117 (35%) their PSA blood level had halved
For the men having docetaxel once a week
- 76 (23%) reported improved quality of life
- 160 (48%) reported better pain control
- 103 (31%) their PSA blood level had halved
For the men having mitoxantrone
- 43 (13%) reported improved quality of life
- 107 (32%) reported better pain control
- 74 (22%) their PSA blood level had halved
On average, men in both of the docetaxel groups lived longer than the men in the mitoxantrone group. And the men who had docetaxel every 3 weeks on average lived the longest.
The researchers concluded that treatment with docetaxel every 3 weeks was much better for men with advanced prostate cancer than mitoxantrone.
We have based this summary on information from the team who ran the trial. 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. We have not analysed the data ourselves.
Recruitment start:
Recruitment end:
How to join a clinical trial
Please note: In order to join a trial you will need to discuss it with your doctor, unless otherwise specified.
Please note - unless we state otherwise in the summary, you need to talk to your doctor about joining a trial.
Chief Investigator
Dr Nick James
Supported by
Aventis Pharma
Freephone 0808 800 4040
Last review date
CRUK internal database number:
Oracle - 163
Please note - unless we state otherwise in the summary, you need to talk to your doctor about joining a trial.
Keith took part in a trial looking into hormone therapy
