Dr. Ryan on Bone-Targeting Agents for Patients With Prostate Cancer

Charles J. Ryan, MD, professor of medicine and urology, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco, discusses bone-targeting agents for patients with prostate cancer.

Ryan aims to initiate bisphosphates or RANK-ligand targeted therapies before a patient's risk for boney complications gets too serious and there are adverse prognostic factors.

With patients who have progressive disease, Ryan might initiate the bone-targeted therapy at the same time as the antitumor therapy, such as abiraterone acetate (Zytiga), enzalutamide (Xtandi), and denosumab (Prolia).

It is still unclear when these agents should be started, when the greatest benefit is leveraged, and whether the treatment should be shortened or discontinued, says Ryan. More long-term studies need to be conducted, explains Ryan.