Prostate cancer drug made in B.C. targets most lethal form of disease

A prostate cancer drug developed by the BC Cancer Agency and UBC has entered clinical trials. Scientists give developing a drug that goes to patient trials a “1 in 1000” odds.

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The drug targets and shuts down metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer that other treatments have failed to target. It’s the most lethal form of the disease and is resistant to most treatments.

Known as EPI-506, the drug has been over a decade in the making, according to the BC Cancer Agency, and is the first to target what they call the “back-end” of the androgen receptor protein.

“Today represents a significant milestone as we witness the fruits of our labour in the lab move to the clinic to potentially help men facing metastatic prostate cancer,” said BC Cancer Agency scientist Dr. Marianne Sadar.

The clinical trial for the new drug started on Wednesday at the BC Cancer Agency and throughout the United States. It’s been approved by both the FDA and Canada Health for human trials.

The project utilized $2.6 million from BC Cancer Foundation donors. More than 3,700 men in B.C. are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year.

To date, efforts from Movember fund raising in Canada have amassed $15 million in donations for prostate cancer research.