Will the FDA approve an oral LHRH antagonist for treatment of prostate cancer?

According to a media release issued yesterday, Myovant Sciences (based in Basel, Switzerland) has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) for approval of its oral LHRH antagonist, relugolix, in the treatment of men with advanced prostate cancer. … READ MORE …

Cardiovascular side effects of ADT

A poster presentation given the other day at the annual meeting of the Canadian Urological Association addressed the relative cardiovascular risks of LHRH agonist and antagonist therapies. … READ MORE …

Early data from the PATCH trial in the UK

Since 2007 a randomized clinical trial in the UK (the so-called PATCH trial) has been comparing the effectiveness and safety of transdermal estradiol patches to implants of an LHRH receptor agonist (goserelin acetate) in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer. … READ MORE …

Are LHRH antagonists more appropriate for some patients than LHRH agonists?

A new paper from a panel of experts in the UK has suggested that the use of LHRH antagonists (e.g., degarelix) may be more appropriate than the use of LHRH agonists (e.g., leuprolide acetate of goserelin acetate) in some prostate cancer patients. … READ MORE …

What else was in the news today?

Today’s news contained items that run the spectrum from the clinical value of tomatoes and lycopene via the cardiovascular side effects of LHRH agonists and antagonists to the question of whether proton beam radiation therapy is really cost-effective. So here are the “news shorts” for the day: … READ MORE …

Is treatment with degarelix really “better” than treatment with an LHRH agonist?

One of our regular readers has asked us to comment on a paper suggesting the possibility of “significant improvement” in various outcomes for men initially treated with the LHRH antagonist degarelix as compared to the LHRH agonists leuprolide acetate and goserelin acetate. … READ MORE …

Are Canadian patients told enough about side effects of LHRH agonist therapy?

According to a survey of 75 Canadian physicians, there is a degree of disagreement among these physicians about what they should tell their patients about the side effects known to be associated with the use of LHRH agonists as a form of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). … READ MORE …

New review of current practice in use of LHRH receptor agonists and antagonists

The full text of a recent review on the use of LHRH receptor agonists (e.g., leuprolide acetate, goserelin acetate) asnd LHRH receptor antagonists (e.g., degarelix) has recently been published by Shore et al. in Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases. The full text of the article is also available on line on the Medscape Oncology web site.

Long-term LHRH receptor agonist therapy and risk for biliary disease

A study just published in European Urology suggests that — in  addition to all the other side effects associated with LHRH receptor agonist therapy — such therapy also induces a small but statistically significant increase in risk for biliary disease. … READ MORE …

Is an LHRH antagonist a better first-line hormone therapy than an LHRH agonist?

The question of whether an LHRH antagonist (such as degarelix) is really a better first-line hormone therapy than an LHRH agonist (e.g., leuprolide acetate) is still not fully answered. … READ MORE …

Degarelix as second-line ADT in men not responsive to LHRH agonist therapy

First-line androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for a man with metastatic prostate cancer has long been been either surgical or medical castration. In the case of medical castatration, the form of medication most commonly used since the mid to late 1980s has been an LHRH agonist (e.g., leuprolide acetate). … READ MORE …

Delayed onset of castration resistance with serum T-based LHRH agonist regimens

A new paper just published online in Urology suggests that intermittent and testosterone (T)-based LHRH regimens are less likely to be associated with early onset of castration resistance than traditional, continuous, calender-based regimens. … READ MORE …

FDA formalizes warning of cardiovascular risks for LHRH agonists

According to a media release from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday, the agency has asked manufacturers of the class of drugs known as luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) or gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists to include warnings about risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes in product labeling for these drugs. … READ MORE …

Are all LHRH agonists “just the same”?

When all the drugs in the same class have the same general clinical impact, this is known as a “class effect.” As an example, all statins (hydroxymethylglutaryl–coenzyme A reductase inhibitors) will lower risk for certain types of cardiovascular event because they lower levels of cholesterol. That is a “class effect.” … READ MORE …

US FDA reviewing the safety of LHRH agonists

For many years it has been understood by specialists that hormonal treatment of prostate cancer patients with luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists — also known as gonadatropin releasing hormone or GnRH agonists — is associated with metabolic side effects that include risks for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. … READ MORE …