By Ben Spencer Medical Correspondent In Chicago For The Daily Mail
Published: 00:34 BST, 5 June 2019 | Updated: 07:41 BST, 5 June 2019
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The first personalised drug for prostate cancer is set to revolutionise treatment and extend the lives of thousands.
A daily pill using a patient’s genetic make-up to undermine a tumour’s defences is said to work in 80 per cent of men with certain genes.
Experts believe the treatment – which is already available for ovarian cancer – could benefit up to 4,000 men every year, delaying the moment when the disease becomes deadly.
The British research, presented at the world’s biggest cancer conference, pave the way for the first personalised – or ‘precision’ – medicine for prostate cancer.
A daily pill using a patient’s genetic make-up to undermine a tumour’s defences is said to work in 80 per cent of men with certain genes (stock image)
These target cancers according to genetic make-up, rather than the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach of chemotherapy and hormone therapy.
The Daily Mail is campaigning for an improvement in prostate cancer treatments and diagnosis, which lag behind other diseases such as breast cancer.
Despite rapid advances in other cancer types, the number of British men dying from prostate cancer is increasing, and now stands at 11,800 each year.
