Dr. Petrylak on Enzalutamide's Role in Prostate Cancer

Daniel P. Petrylak, MD, director, Prostate and Genitourinary Cancer Program, co-director, Signal Transduction Research Program, at the Smilow Cancer Center at Yale-New Haven, discusses his excitement over the recent approval of enzalutamide (Xtandi) for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who have been previously treated with docetaxel and hormonal therapy.

Petrylak believes the approval of enzalutamide validates the theory that further manipulation of the hormone axis leads to improved outcomes. In addition to the recent approval, enzalutamide is currently being investigated earlier in the treatment process, similarly to abiraterone acetate (Zytiga).

One of the advantages of enzalutamide is that it can be given without the co-administration of a corticosteroid, Petrylak explains. This is beneficial because the immunotherapy sipuleucel-T (Provenge) requires at least one month following corticosteroid administration before the leukapheresis process can begin. Removing this added wait time will improve outcomes for patients, Petrylak believes.