Prostate Cancer

Rucaparib (Rubraca) has received a breakthrough therapy designation from the FDA&nbsp;for single-agent use in adult patients with <em>BRCA1/2</em>-positive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer following at least 1 androgen receptor&ndash;directed therapy and taxane-based chemotherapy.

Patients with the localized form of CRPC still have no options that are proven to extend overall survival, but preliminary results from the PROSPER trial of enzalutamide and the SPARTAN trial of apalutamide offer them unprecedented hope.

Susan Halabi, PhD, discusses an analysis that found&nbsp;that the risk of death from&nbsp;metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer was nearly 20% lower in African-American men than in Caucasian men.

Olaparib in combination with abiraterone acetate improved progression-free survival compared with the antiandrogen agent alone in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, according to findings from a phase II trial presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting.&nbsp;The results of the trial were also published the same day in Lancet Oncology.

According to Pfizer and Astellas, the codevelopers of&nbsp;enzalutamide (Xtandi), the agent has been approved by the FDA for treatment of patients with nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

General Cancer

Joseph F. Renzulli Jr, MD, an expert in robotic surgery for treating urologic cancers, is joining Lawrence and Memorial Hospital, an affiliate of Yale New Haven Health, in New London, Connecticut. He brings a specialized insight on diagnosing and treating prostate cancer to the growing team.

Newer MRI techniques are being tested to improve the accuracy of prostate cancer diagnosis. Three presentations during the 2018 American Urological Association Annual Meeting discussed potential approaches to reduce the need for prostate biopsies for men with prostate cancer