A BREAST cancer drug is on the verge of being approved as the first genetically targeted treatment for prostate cancer following a major clinical trial, researchers have said.
Researchers said that olaparib can target an 'Achilles heel' in prostate cancers – a weakness in their ability to repair damaged DNA.
Final results from the trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, are set to herald the approval of the drug in prostate cancer treatment in the US and Europe this year, authors said.
Researchers are hoping olaparib will be available on the NHS for some patients with advanced prostate cancer within the next two years.
Study co-leader Professor Johann de Bono, professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine at The Institute of Cancer Research in London, said it was exciting to see a drug that had helped women with ovarian and breast cancer showing "clear benefits" for prostate cancer patients too.
"Our findings show that olaparib – a drug which targets an Achilles heel in cancer cells while sparing normal, healthy cells – can outperform targeted hormone treatments in some men with advanced prostate cancer," he said.
"I can't wait to see this drug start reaching men who could benefit from it on the NHS – hopefully in the next couple of years."
Olaparib is a type of treatment called a PARP inhibitor that specifically targets cancer cells with faulty DNA repair genes.
According to Cancer Research UK, some cancer cells rely on PARP to keep their DNA healthy, including cancer cells with a change in the BRCA (breast cancer) gene.
Targeted drugs can target differences in a cancer's genes or DNA that help a cancer to grow, so when drugs stop PARP from repairing DNA damage, the cancer cells die.
