Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men, and it has been estimated that up to 10,000 men in the UK are diagnosed each year with the most aggressive form of the disease. A small scale clinical trial has now shown that abiraterone is able to shrink prostate cancer tumours in patients who have not responded to alternative medical or surgical treatments. Abiraterone works by inhibiting production of male hormones, which can stimulate the growth of prostate cancer cells, throughout the body and not just in the testes.
Many of men on the trial reported significant improvements in their quality of life and some were able to stop taking morphine for control of pain caused by the cancer spreading into their bones.