Dr. Dreicer on Ongoing Trials in Prostate Cancer

Robert Dreicer, MD, associate director for Clinical Research and deputy director of the University of Virginia Cancer Center, discusses novel agents and clinical trials in development designed to help guide treatment decisions for patients with prostate cancer.

Dreicer admits that the oncology community was disappointed when the ARMOR3-SV trial of galeterone—which was an agent that was hoped to be able to overcome androgen receptor (AR)-V7 resistance—was stopped prematurely in 2016. However, there are other next-generation compounds in development, and the AR-V7 assay is moving its way to the commercial landscape. This is an area, he adds, that has plenty of ongoing research.

Recently, researchers have become focused on encouraging findings with mutational directed therapeutics. However, he stresses that prostate cancer is an AR-driven disease, so that will be an area of great importance for researchers to develop new agents and truly understand how to overcome resistance. Though there aren't any clear answers yet to these challenges and questions, he explains the work in this area is progressing.