First public forum on the use of proscar to prevent prostate cancer in healthy men
Washington, DC – A panel of experts from a variety of fields in cancer research and treatment will conduct the first public forum at the AACR Annual Meeting over the use of finasteride – sold by Merck under the brand name Proscar – to prevent prostate cancer in otherwise healthy men.
In a government-sponsored study released last month, healthy men who took finasteride, currently approved to shrink enlarged prostates, experienced 25 percent fewer cases of prostate cancer than those taking a placebo. Overall, 18.4 percent of those taking finasteride got prostate cancer, compared to 24.4 percent on the placebo.
But the study, which involved 9,060 healthy men at least 55 years old, had a surprise: the drug appeared to increase men's risk for developing a less common but much more aggressive appearing prostate tumor. About 6.4 percent of the men in the finasteride group developed these more aggressive appearing tumors, compared to about 5.1 percent in the placebo group, a finding that was considered statistically significant.
The confounding results have left scientists and doctors wondering if the advantages of prescribing the drug outweighed the risks to help prevent prostate cancer, the second most common form of cancer in men after skin cancer, killing 29,000 American men every year.
To help lend some clarity to the issue, the AACR has assembled a forum of leading cancer specialists who will debate the pros and cons of using the drug for chemoprevention. The forum will take place 12:45 p.m.-2:45 p.m., Saturday, July 12, Hall E, Washington Convention Center.
Participants – representing a cross section of experts in the epidemiology, pathology, molecular biology, chemoprevention and clinical pathways of prostate cancer – include: Drs. Peter Gann, Associate Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University Medical School; Peter Greenwald, Director, Division of Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute; Eric Klein, Head, Section of Urologic Oncology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation; William Nelson, Assistant Professor, Oncology and Urology, Brady Urological Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Mark Rubin, Associate Professor of Pathology and Urology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital; Donald Tindall, Professor of Urology and Biochemistry/ Molecular Biology at the Mayo Medical School, Mayo Clinic; and Christopher J. Logothetis, Chairman and Professor, Department of GU Medical Oncology, UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, who will moderate the session.
Prior to the forum, participants will assemble for a press briefing at 11 a.m., Saturday, July 12, Room 159, Washington Convention Center.
Founded in 1907, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is a professional society of more than 20,000 laboratory and clinical scientists engaged in cancer research in the United States and more than 60 other countries. AACR's mission is to accelerate the prevention and cure of cancer through research, education, communication and advocacy. Its principal activities include the publication of five major peer-reviewed scientific journals (Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; and Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention). AACR's annual meeting attracts more than 12,000 participants who share new and significant discoveries in the cancer field, and the AACR's specialty meetings throughout the year focus on all the important areas of basic, translational and clinical cancer research.
