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'Morning-After' Pill May Be New Option to Treat Painful Fibroids

Posted 2 Feb 2012 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 – The morning-after pill may help shrink painful fibroids and relieve excessive bleeding, new research indicates. Fibroids are benign tumors that form on the wall of a woman's uterus; as many as 80 percent of all women may have fibroids. Many cause no symptoms, but one in four women experiences symptoms that are severe enough to require treatment, according to the National Uterine Fibroids Foundation. Symptoms may include heavy periods, anemia, bloating, constipation, infertility and miscarriage. Treatment may involve surgery to remove the uterus and/or hormone treatments such as Lupron (leuprolide) or oral contraceptives. Now, two new studies in the New England Journal of Medicine suggest that the 'morning-after' pill Ella (ulipristal) works just as well as Lupron in treating fibroid-linked uterine bleeding, with less risk of hot flashes. The new studies were funded ... Read more

Cancer Patients Should Ask Doctors to Use Simple Terms

Posted 28 Sep 2011 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 28 – Cancer patients are often faced with many difficult-to-understand treatment choices that can have serious side effects and even mean the difference between life and death. That's why it's crucial that patients insist doctors use plain language in explaining the options, advised Angela Fagerlin, an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and a researcher at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center. "People are making life and death decisions that may affect their survival and they need to know what they're getting themselves into. Cancer treatments and tests can be serious. Patients need to know what kind of side effects they might experience as a result of the treatment they undergo," Fagerlin said in a university news release. She and her colleagues outlined a number of tips to help patients get the information they need ... Read more

Abbott Labs Says FDA Approves Longer-Acting Lupron

Posted 17 Aug 2011 by Drugs.com

From Associated Press (August 16, 2011) NORTH CHICAGO, Ill. – Abbott Laboratories said Tuesday the Food and Drug Administration approved two longer-acting doses of its drug Lupron as a treatment for premature puberty. Abbott said the FDA approved two doses of Lupron that last for three months each, allowing patients to be injected with the drug four times a year instead of once every month. The agency approved the new doses as a treatment for central precocious puberty, a condition that causes children to enter puberty too soon. It causes the development of secondary sex characteristics, and can also lead to reduced adult height. Central precocious puberty is defined as puberty that starts before age 8 in girls and before age 9 in boys. Abbott said the condition is diagnosed in one out of every 5,000 to 10,000 children. It said Lupron can suppress hormones, delaying puberty to a more ... Read more

For Some Prostate Cancer Patients, Combo Treatment Improves Survival

Posted 13 Jul 2011 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, July 13 – For men who have prostate cancer that's considered "intermediate risk," radiation plus four months of hormone therapy appears to improve survival, a new study finds. This combination of treatments, however, was not effective in men with either low-risk prostate cancer or advanced disease, the researchers said. Men with high-risk cancer need long-term hormone therapy. The hormone therapy is known as androgen deprivation therapy. It's designed to reduce the levels of male hormones (androgens) in the body, since they can stimulate the growth of prostate cancer cells. "For patients with early, localized cancer of the prostate who were treated with radiation therapy, [by] adding short-term androgen deprivation therapy, we improved their cure rates and increased their chance of living 10 years from 57 percent to 62 percent," said lead researcher Dr. Christopher U. Jones, ... Read more

Could a Prostate Cancer Treatment Raise Colon Cancer Risk?

Posted 11 Nov 2010 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 10 – Men taking hormone therapy for prostate cancer may have a slightly increased risk of developing colorectal cancer, a new study suggests. Androgen deprivation therapy is often prescribed to treat prostate cancer. But its use in treating low-risk cancer is controversial, because two potential side effects, diabetes and obesity, are risk factors for colorectal cancer, the researchers say. "We found that the use of androgen deprivation therapy, either through injections or through surgical castration, for prostate cancer was associated with a 30 to 40 percent increase in risk for colorectal cancer," said lead researcher Dr. Vahakn B. Shahinian, an assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan. As experts debate whether routine prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing causes many men to undergo unneeded treatment for prostate cancer, this finding ... Read more

Fracture Risk Seen With Hormone Therapy for Prostate Cancer

Posted 10 Nov 2010 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Nov. 9 – Long-term use of androgen deprivation therapy to treat prostate cancer may increase older patients' risk of broken bones, according to a new study. These findings suggest that careful consideration is needed before doctors decide to use this therapy in older men with localized disease, the researchers said. They analyzed data from more than 46,500 men, aged 66 and older, who survived at least five years after a diagnosis of localized prostate cancer and received long-term androgen deprivation therapy. Older men with co-existing health problems are usually prescribed androgen deprivation therapy because they are not suitable candidates for radiation therapy or surgery to remove the prostate. But this study found that men treated with androgen deprivation therapy had a 20 percent increased risk of a first fracture and a 57 percent increased risk of a second fracture ... Read more

FDA: Include Warnings on Risk for Class of Prostate Cancer Drugs

Posted 22 Oct 2010 by Drugs.com

ROCKVILLE, Md., Oct. 20, 2010--The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today asked manufacturers to add new warnings to labeling of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, a class of drugs primarily used to treat men with prostate cancer. The warnings would alert patients and their health care professionals to the potential risk of heart disease and diabetes in men treated with these medications. In May, the FDA said that a preliminary and ongoing analysis found that patients receiving GnRH agonists were at a small increased risk for diabetes, heart attack, stroke, and sudden death. The new labels will include updates in the Warnings and Precautions section about these potential risks. Prostate cancer is the second most common type of cancer among men in the United States, behind skin cancer, and usually occurs in older men. This year an estimated 217,730 new cases of prostate ... Read more

FDA MedWatch - GnRH Agonists: Label Change - Increased Risk of Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease (Update)

Posted 21 Oct 2010 by Drugs.com

AUDIENCE: Oncology, Endocrine, Cardiovascular ISSUE: Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone (GnRH) agonists will have new safety information added to the Warnings and Precautions section of the drug labels. This new information warns about increased risk of diabetes and certain cardiovascular diseases (heart attack, sudden cardiac death, stroke) in men receiving these medications for the treatment of prostate cancer. BACKGROUND: GnRH agonists are approved to treat the symptoms (palliative treatment) of advanced prostate cancer. The benefits of GnRH agonist use for earlier stages of prostate cancer that have not spread (non-metastatic prostate cancer) have not been established. FDA’s notification to manufacturers of GnRH agonists to add this safety information is based on the Agency’s review of several published studies. Most of the studies reviewed by FDA reported small but statistically sig ... Read more

FDA Calls for New Warnings on Some Prostate Cancer Drugs

Posted 20 Oct 2010 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 20 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday called for new warnings on the labels of widely used hormonal prostate cancer drugs because of evidence of a slight increased risk of heart disease and diabetes in the men who take them. The FDA first announced in May that it was reviewing the prostate cancer drugs known as gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, citing this possible increased risk. These medications suppress the production of testosterone, a hormone that can spur the growth of prostate cancer. The drugs include Eligard, Lupron, Synarel, Trelstar, Vantas, Viadur, Zoladex and several generic products. Hormone-based therapy is not a cure for prostate cancer, because tumors can eventually become resistant to the therapy. However, the therapy can extend survival. So, should the new label warnings deter men from enrolling on hormone-based ... Read more

Common Prostate Cancer Treatment Linked to Bone Decay

Posted 8 Oct 2010 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Oct. 8 – A common prostate cancer treatment called androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is associated with bone decay, according to a new study. The therapy suppresses or blocks the production of male sex hormones that contribute to the growth of prostate cancer. Currently, about 600,000 prostate cancer patients in the United States are being treated with ADT. In the small 12-month study, Australian researchers examined 26 prostate cancer patients being treated with ADT. The investigators found evidence that the men had "structural decay of cortical (hard outer shell) and trabecular (spongy inner mesh) bone," lead study authors Emma Hamilton and Dr. Mathis Grossmann, of the University of Melbourne, explained in a news release from the Endocrine Society. "Sex steroid deficiency induced by ADT for prostate cancer results in microarchitectural decay. Bone fragility in these men may ... Read more

As FDA Eyes Prostate Cancer Drugs, Experts Urge Caution

Posted 4 May 2010 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, May 4 – When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Monday it was investigating possible links between widely used hormonal prostate cancer drugs and an slight rise in risk for diabetes and heart disease, thousands of men who rely on these drugs to extend their lives were left wondering what to do next. According to experts, the main advice to those men at the moment is to keep taking the drugs, but use them with caution. The FDA says it will review a widely used class of prostate cancer drugs called gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists. These include medications such as Eligard, Lupron, Synarel, Trelstar, Vantas, Viadur, Zoladex and several generic products. All of these drugs suppress the production of testosterone, a hormone thought to help spur the growth of prostate cancer. Hormone-based therapy is not a cure for prostate cancer, because tumors can ... Read more

Experts Issue Warning on Prostate Hormone Therapy

Posted 1 Feb 2010 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Feb. 1 – Men with prostate cancer and the physicians who treat them are being warned that the androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) commonly used against the malignancy might increase the risk of heart attack and cardiac death. "There is a substantial amount of data demonstrating that ADT adversely affects traditional cardiovascular risk factors, including serum lipoproteins, insulin sensitivity and obesity," according to an advisory published online Feb. 1 in Circulation by a group of experts from the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society and the American Urological Association. The warning is guarded, saying that risks have not been found in all studies. "But we think that physicians treating patients with localized and metastatic prostate cancers as well as patients ought to realize that there are significant risks associated with the use of hormone therapy," said ... Read more

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Prostate Cancer, Uterine Leiomyomata / Fibroids, Endometriosis, Hirsutism, Breast Cancer -- Adjuvant