Black men are 70% more likely to become diagnosed with prostate cancer as all other men and more than twice as likely to die from this disease. However, diverse patient enrollment in prostate cancer clinical trials may make a difference in reducing this racial disparity. PHEN Survivor Network Member Art Cain is one such man who benefited from clinical trial participation.
Mr. Cain was first diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2015. After first overcoming the disease, he experienced a recurrence in 2019. Yet, he luckily ran into Dr. Daniel George from the Duke Cancer Institute at PHEN’s 2019 Annual African American Prostate Cancer Disparity Summit in Washington, D.C., where he learned about the PANTHER clinical trial. He went to an appointment with Dr. George and then joined the trial.
“After talking with Dr. George and the folks at Duke, I decided to enter the PANTHER clinical trial,” Mr. Cain said. He had a PSA level of 6 when he entered the clinical trial at the end of 2019. After only one year in the PANTHER trial, Cain saw his PSA result drop to an undetectable level, which remains the same today. Essentially, the PANTHER clinical trial saved his life.
The PANTHER trial involves a combination of hormonal therapies called apalutamide and abiraterone. The combined hormonal therapies are meant to treat men with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). The most important finding from the trial is that Black men had better outcomes from the treatment as compared to White men.
According to UroToday.com, the results from the PANTHER trial show that Black patients had longer time to PSA progression, greater PSA responses, longer radiographic progression-free survival, and better overall survival rates when compared to White patients. Overall, the combined therapies from the PANTHER trial were found to benefit Black men more significantly than White men.
“We absolutely have to be intentional in our inclusion of Black patients in our clinical trials,” explained Dr. George of Duke Cancer Institute.
Prostate cancer patients with advanced disease should feel more at ease, as there is still hope with treatment through clinical trials. The PANTHER trial made a real difference for Art Cain and other Black men. Greater prostate cancer clinical trial participation in the African American community can reduce the racial prostate cancer disparity Black men face.
To find the right clinical trial for your prostate cancer type, visit PHENTrials.com and gain access to more than 600 prostate cancer trials.