The Pioneers Update – Summer 2022
Introducing Laura Kerby, our Chief Executive
As you know, the pandemic has delayed research plans and set back the progress we’ve made on earlier diagnosis due to fewer men coming through the referral system. But, thanks to you, we’re continuing our work to stop men dying from prostate cancer. From our thirty-second risk checker to encourage high-risk men to speak to their GP, securing access to better treatments, and making steps towards a screening programme, Dr Matthew Hobbs, Director of Research, reflects on our major achievements this past year.
Guaranteeing men permanent access to life-extending treatment
You may remember that in 2020 we successfully lobbied NHS England for the temporary approval of two alternative treatments to chemotherapy, which could be taken at home during the pandemic. After several years of appraisals, I’m thrilled that National Institute for Care and Health Excellence (NICE) has permanently approved enzalutamide and apalutamide for men with advanced prostate cancer.
When enzalutamide was approved in June, it became a life-extending alternative for over 4,000 men each year who are not suitable for docetaxel chemotherapy and have limited treatment options. Just a few months later, apalutamide was also given the green light. They’re similar treatments with life-extending benefits and any man with advanced prostate cancer who cannot have chemotherapy now has an alternative treatment available. Apalutamide will also be offered as an option to men who have become resistant to traditional hormone therapies and are at high risk of their prostate cancer spreading. Overall, NICE estimates that around 8,000 men could now benefit from apalutamide.
Finding the missing men
Since the pandemic hit in March 2020, referrals for prostate cancer fell by 52,000 and we know there are more than 8,600 fewer men than in the previous year who should have begun their treatment pathway. Early diagnosis is vital in the fight against prostate cancer, as once the cancer has spread outside the prostate, it can't be cured. Since launching a year ago, our national campaign to find these ‘missing men’ has encouraged over 209,000 people to use our thirty-second risk checker to better understand their risk and consult their GP if they need to.
Earlier diagnosis
Screening programmes can find the early signs of cancer in people who don’t have symptoms yet. A programme for prostate cancer is not possible yet because we need a more accurate and reliable test. But we’re now one step closer to making this a reality. In collaboration with the Sheffield School of Health and Related Research (ScHAAR), we’ve completed a modelling project to better understand some of the opportunities and challenges for screening approach options. We’re now able to set out the route map to screening, which will help shape our future funding priorities.
More than ever before, our Pioneers programme will play a vital role in funding research that will help create a future where lives are not limited by prostate cancer.
Dr Matthew Hobbs
Director of Research
Prostate cancer referrals hit an all-time high, thanks to your efforts to find the 14,000 men
In June, our research team joined thousands of researchers (from their computers) at this year’s ASCO (The Association of American Oncologists) virtual conference. We heard about new treatment options, clever targeted therapies, and alternative techniques to scan the body for tumours.
A ‘guided missile’ to target cancer cells
The Phase III trial VISION is testing a new targeted treatment for advanced prostate cancer. Lu-PSMA-617, also known as lutetium therapy, can detect and attach directly to cancer cells to deliver a dose of targeted radiation. While it’s not possible to cure advanced prostate cancer, this clever treatment reduces side effects and can help extend the life of men by, on average, four months.
“These initial results are hugely exciting, and it looks as if this trial will give us final confirmation that Lu-PSMA-617 works as a completely new and effective treatment for late-stage prostate cancer. It’s a big win for the prostate cancer research community and shows that with the proper investment we can keep finding new ways to treat the disease and extend men’s lives.”
Dr Matthew Hobbs, Director of Research
Radiotherapy to treat advanced prostate cancer
We’re building on the results from STAMPEDE, which thanks to Prostate Cancer UK funding proved for the first time that some men with cancer that’s spread outside the prostate could benefit from radiotherapy. Your generous donations have allowed us to fund TRAP (Targeted Radiotherapy in Androgen-Suppressed Prostate Cancer Patients), a clinical trial, led by Dr Alison Tree at the Royal Marsden Hospital, using radiotherapy to kill tumours in men where the cancer has spread and stopped responding to other treatments. Findings will soon show us if this alternative technique can extend the life of men with advanced prostate cancer.
Ultrasound to spot cancer
CADMUS, a trial that you helped fund in 2014, has now recruited all the men they need to test whether we could use a special form of ultrasound to detect prostate cancer. Early results suggest that this new technique was almost as good as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which is the current gold standard in diagnostics. There’s some way to go yet, but this could mean thousands of men who are unable to have an MRI could soon benefit from a more accurate diagnosis.
Treating smarter, not harder: thousands of men could be spared side effects of docetaxel chemotherapy
In July last year, we launched a funding call to support clinical and late-stage translational research to improve outcomes for men with localised prostate cancer. Due to the potential impact of this call, it was part-funded with Movember and generously supported by the Garfield Weston Foundation.
Following the grant-making process we've been able to award five projects looking to improve the treatment pathway for localised and locally advanced disease in the following key areas:
- Develop a test that will give better insight into the aggressiveness of cancer to inform the best form of treatment for men
- Add to our understanding of the role of certain proteins that may limit the potency of immunotherapy
- How to refine radiotherapy treatment by optimising treatment planning to reduce the side-effects experienced by men and the number of hospital visits
Led by some of the most pioneering scientists in prostate cancer research working at world-class institutions, these projects have shown potential to improve the way localised prostate cancer is treated. The more accurately we can identify the aggressiveness of a man’s prostate cancer and use that knowledge to guide the treatments each man is offered, the closer we can get to curing thousands of men. We are currently going through the contracting process for these projects and will have more to share soon.
Looking ahead, we’ll need continued investment in this area to build our understanding of what treatment options work best for which men at these early stages of the disease. And we have just launched a second round of this important funding call.
To enquire about how you can be involved in this funding call, please contact the Philanthropy team via email on [email protected].
Making a screening programme a reality
Dr Juan Jiménez-Vacas is one of the promising researchers whose work in advanced prostate cancer is made possible thanks to your support through a Prostate Cancer UK Travelling Prize Fellowship.
Right now, there’s no cure for advanced prostate cancer. Eventually, the disease develops resistance to all drugs, and men are told there are no treatments left for them. For Dr Jiménez-Vacas, this just isn’t good enough.
“My goal is to discover new strategies to stop prostate cancer becoming resistant to treatments. To do this I need to understand how prostate cancer cells react to treatments. Then I can find vulnerabilities that we can target to prevent resistance from occurring.”
Dr Juan Jiménez-Vacas
Splitting his time between the Institute of Cancer Research in London and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Dr Jiménez-Vacas will analyse and test thousands of prostate cancer samples using an approach called multi-omics. By combining different analysis techniques to study the cancer, he’ll unravel why it becomes resistant and how we can keep current treatments working for longer.
Thanks to the generous donations of our supporters, including the Pioneers, Dr Jiménez-Vacas’ research could extend the lives of thousands of men living with advanced prostate cancer.
“We have the opportunity to reduce the number of men who are diagnosed too late”
Our striking new remembrance sculpture, dedicated to the men we’ve lost, is set to tour the UK. The Prostate Cancer Memorial is one of many ways families can celebrate a loved one’s life and help their memory live on. By engraving the name of a loved one on the memorial, supporters can fund life-changing research and support for men and their families that will stop more men dying from prostate cancer.
You’ll have the opportunity to visit The Prostate Cancer Memorial from Monday 1 November, where we’ll be unveiling it for the first time at London Bridge Station. More details to come.
You can enquire about becoming part of The Prostate Cancer Memorial by speaking with the Philanthropy team who can be contacted by email: [email protected].
