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Drug reduces prostate cancer diagnosis in men at high risk

A drug widely used to shrink enlarged prostates has been shown to lower the risk of prostate cancer by 23 percent in men who have an increased risk of the disease, according to results of an international clinical trial presented April 27 at the American Urological Association annual meeting in Chicago.

The four-year, phase III trial known as REDUCE is the first to look at chemoprevention for prostate cancer in men at increased risk for the disease. The trial involved 8,200 men ages 50 75 who were randomly assigned to receive a placebo or a daily 0.5 mg dose of dutasteride (Avodart), manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline.

"Dutasteride has the potential to offer many thousands of men a way to reduce their risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer," says the study's lead investigator Gerald Andriole, M.D., chief of urologic surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Siteman Cancer Center. "This should ultimately mean more men will avoid treatment for prostate cancer and the cost and unwanted side effects associated with treatment.

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