Provenge in Combination with Radium-223

Oliver Sartor, MD, board professor, cancer research, Tulane University, discusses a trial that would study Provenge (sipuleucel-T) in combination with radium-223 as a potential treatment option for patients with prostate cancer.

Clinical Pearls:

• Both companies that developed the drugs have approved a trial design
• The trial will be small and have immunologic endpoints to help physicians better understand the mechanisms of action behind combining radiation therapy and immunotherapy
• Researchers hypothesize that radiation may be able to induce epitopes that can trigger better immune responses
• There is good preclinical data that suggests that radiation and immunotherapy may have interesting interplay