Degarelix for the treatment of Prostate Cancer

RemwesMedical — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 07:33:51 +0000

There is an exciting new medication which was just recently approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration of the USA) on December 24th, 2008 for the treatment of advanced Prostate Cancer. This new medicine is known as Degarelix and it is made by a company known as Ferring Pharmaceuticals.
Once prostate cancer has grown and has spread outside of the prostate gland, it is typically no longer able to be cured but is able to be controlled for years with what is known as hormonal therapy. The types of hormone therapies that have been available for us to use until now have been of two basic types.
One is the “LHRH agonists” of which Leupron or Zoladex are common examples and the other is the “Antiandrogens” of which Casodex or Eulexin are common examples.
Well, we now have a third type of hormone therapy that has been approved by the FDA and this one is called Degarelix. What Degarelix does is to actually BLOCK the GnRH RECEPTOR. GnRH stands for “Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone” and this is a hormone that originates in the part of the brain called the hypothalamus which stimulates the production of another hormone called LH (Leutenizing Lormone). This LH hormone, then, in turn causes the testicles to produce testosterone.
There are “receptors” in the brain that, when triggered, cause the brain (i.e. the hypothalamus part of the brain as we mentioned earlier) to produce GnRH which in turn, as we have seen, causes the production of LH which in turn stimulates the testicles to produce Testosterone. Thus, by blocking the RECEPTOR for GnRH in the brain, the brain is not stimulated to produce GnRH. Thus, since no GnRH is made, then no LH is made and thus finally, no testosterone is made thus by the testicles. Prostate cancer depends on the presence of testosterone in the body as its stimulus for growth and spread. Therefore, without testosterone, the cancer stops growing and shrinks – often for years.
The best part about this new medication known as Degarelix, is that it avoids what is known as the “flare” reaction that is sometimes a problem with the use of the more classic “LHRH agonists”. All of these concepts and many more are covered in very easy-to-understand language in the Prostate Cancer audio CD available on www.CancerInPlainEnglish.com.

Prolia: A promising new drug for Prostate Cancer

RemwesMedical — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:01:46 +0000

Prolia (or, as it is also known, Denosumab) is an exciting new medication which promises to help men with prostate cancer with the damage to their bones that can result from the treatments that are given to control their prostate cancers.
Just as cars use gasoline for fuel and jet planes use airplane fuel, prostate cancer uses the hormone known as Testosterone as its fuel. Testosterone stimulates the growth and spread of prostate cancer. An excellent and easy way to stop prostate cancer, then, is to shut down the production and/or the effects of Testosterone in the body. This is readily and reliably achieved by “anti-Testosterone” medications known as LHRH agonists, antiandrogens or both given together. Over time, however, these wonderful “anti-Testosterone” medications, which do so much good for men with prostate cancer, can cause the bones of the body to become weaker, brittle and possibly even break or fracture.
Prolia, which is also known by the more scientific name of Denosumab, is a new and exciting medication produced by a company known as Amgen in California, which is showing excellent promise for helping to improve the bone loss that results from the use of the Testosterone-stopping medications mentioned earlier.
There are other medications on the market that help to stop bone loss – particularly one known as Zometa made by a company known as Novartis, which until now has been pretty much the “go to” medication when it comes to treating the bone loss resultant from the use of Testosterone-stopping medications. The key with this new medicine known as Prolia (also known as Denosumab), however, is that it works in a very new way to combat the bone loss.
How does Prolia (Denosumab) work? Well, in order to understand how Prolia works, we first need to talk a little bit about how our bones work in general. The way the bones of our bodies work is that they are constantly breaking themselves down and building themselves back up again over and over again constanly in order to keep our bones fresh and strong. Really? Yes, really. The key, however, is that this happens constantly but very slowly and so we do not notice it. All we notice is that our bones remain hard and strong and they continue to support our bodies.
Well, Prolia (Denosumab) STOPS the “break down” part of the “break down and build up” cycle we just mentioned earlier. By stopping the “break down” half of the cycle, the bones of the body will only continue to “build up” and get stronger and not get weaker.
The nice thing about Prolia (Denosumab) is that it seems to promise to be good not only for the bone loss that happens to men who are receiving Testosterone-stopping medicines as part of their treatment for prostate cancer, but it also promises to be good for women with breast cancer who are being treated with hormone therapies for their breast cancers. What is even better is that Prolia does not seem to have any worse side effects than Zometa (which has been pretty much the “standard” medicine to help avoid bone loss until now) – except, perhaps, a few more episodes of low calcium blood levels. This is an easy situation to monitor with a blood test from time to time and then to treat.
All of the above concepts and much more information is covered in very easy-to-understand language in the Prostate Cancer audio CD which is available on the www.CancerInPlainEnglish.com web site.

What’s New – Cancer In Plain English – Cancer Information

Degarelix for the treatment of Prostate Cancer

Prolia: A promising new drug for Prostate Cancer