A SOUTHAMPTON study has found that adding a targeted cancer drug to chemotherapy can improve survival for patients.
The research by the Southampton Clinical Trials Unit has found that adding the drug Capivasertib to treatment can increase survival for prostate cancer patients .
Funded by Cancer Research UK, the trial findings have now been published in the journal, European Urology.
Of the 150 people taking part in the trial, half were given standard docetaxel chemotherapy plus the drug, and half were given chemotherapy plus a dummy drug.
The results showed that although the drug did not increase the time before the cancer started to grow again, overall survival was increased for patients in the capivasertib group compared to those in the placebo group.
Capivasertib is a targeted cancer drug that stops the signals cancer cells use to grow and divide.
Dr Simon Crabb, associate professor of medical oncology and chief investigator of the ProCAID trial, said: "This trial has shown that adding capivasertib to chemotherapy can improve outcomes for patients with advanced prostate cancer and may be of particular benefit for patients previously treated with hormone therapy.
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"Larger studies are now needed to confirm the findings from the ProCAID trial and increase our understanding of how best to use this approach."
The Clinical Trials Unit is based at the University of Southampton's Centre for Cancer Immunology and ran the trial with the help of additional financial support from AstraZeneca UK Ltd.
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