New treatments have tripled the life expectancy of British men with incurable prostate cancer over the last 10 years, research has shown.
Patients treated at a leading London cancer hospital which pioneers new therapies now survive 41 months on average, compared with between 13 and 16 months a decade ago.
Scientists studied data on 442 men who had participated in trials and drug access programmes at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust since 2003.
All had prostate cancer which had spread and no longer responded to standard hormone treatments. Some 78% of the patients received docetaxel-based chemotherapy, which was approved for NHS use in 2005.
In addition, half were treated with abiraterone, a new prostate cancer drug which only became available on the NHS last year. A small number of patients were offered three other novel therapies, enzalutamide, cabazitaxel and radium.
Professor Johann de Bono, from the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden, said: “This analysis highlights the remarkable benefits we are seeing from new treatments for men with advanced prostate cancer.
“Put simply, men are living for much longer with incurable disease than they did a few short years ago.
“Advanced prostate cancer is still incurable but new treatments are giving men more time to do the things that matter to them with their loved ones.
“That couldn’t be more important and shows the strides we are making in the fight against the disease.”