We continue our “pre-game” coverage of the 2014 ESMO Cancer Congress in Madrid with a look at what’s hot (or not) in prostate cancer at ESMO.

The treatment of advanced prostate cancer has been revolutionized in the recent years with the approval of new treatment options such as abiraterone acetate (Zytiga), enzalutamide (Xtandi) and radium-223 dichloride (Xofigo).  We’ve also seen some expensive flops in late stage development such as: dasatinib (Sprycel), TAK-700 (Orteronel), custirsen (OGX-011), lenalidomide (Revlimid) and cabozantinib (Cometriq) – all failed to show a significant overall survival benefit in large phase III trials.  In addition, sipuleucel-T (Provenge) although an approved new treatment, is considered by many to be a commercial failure, which highlights that it’s not just about obtaining regulatory approval as a key success factor.

The results of the accrued phase III trial with ipilimumab (Yervoy) in the pre-chemotherapy setting (recall that the ipilimumab post-docetaxel phase III trial was a failure) is eagerly awaited.

Next up in the pipeline we have next-generation androgen receptor (AR) inhibitors such as ODM-201 (Bayer/Orion) and ARN-509 (JNJ/Aragon). Phase III trials with these new AR inhibitors are recruiting for the treatment of non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

Other novel compounds of note earlier in development include galeterone for which a phase III trial is planned, and bromodomain inhibitors.

So what’s hot at ESMO 2014 in prostate cancer?

In the second of our preview series we take a critical look at some of the oral presentations in the preliminary ESMO program: what’s a rehash of ASCO 2014, and what new data are worth looking out for when the abstracts are published?

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