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After all the talk about Denderon and Provenge, I was curious to learn more about this specific medication. As a pharmacy student who has done a residency at a Cancer Center, I called one of the doctors to ask them their thoughts and opinions on the future of Provenge.
They essentially said that Provenge is "hocus-pocus" and that the drug will fail miserably. The research on Provenge claims that the drug can help prostate cancer patients live an additional 4 months than prior treatments at an outrageous cost.
The evidence to back this up was an extremely small study. What did this study prove? The PSA (prostate-specific antigen) number of the patients did not drop AT ALL. The scans taken to reveal tumor size showed ZERO signs of shrinkage. These are the two primary measurements of how prostate cancer patients are doing with their treatment. So what explanation is there for the additional 4 months of life... NONE.
The FDA then said it seemed to be strange, and wanted the results to be repeated. Again, Denderon had a very small and limited study in which they said the results were the same.
Bottom line is PSA and Tumor Size were unchanged. The consensus as far as Medical Oncologists go is that Provenge is a joke. Zytiga has proven results, and seems to be by far the drug of choice when dealing with terminal prostate cancer.
Just thought I would pass this information along, and see if there was any refuting this... or reason to believe Provenge is a miracle drug/cure.
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