The prostate is a walnut-shaped gland that produces seminal fluid. Any cancerous growth that begins here is known as prostate cancer. It is one of the most common forms of cancer among men, affecting 13 out of every 100 people. As the condition advances, it may cause symptoms like trouble urinating, blood in the urine, bone pain, and other issues. Doctors may recommend prescription treatments like Nubeqa (Darolutamide) for treating this condition.

What is Nubeqa?
Prostate cancer typically needs the hormone testosterone to grow. Nubeqa is a type of prescription treatment that blocks the effect of testosterone on prostate cancer cells to slow down its spread. This FDA-approved treatment is used in cases where cancer has not spread to other parts of the body and does not respond to medical or surgical treatments aimed at lowering testosterone (nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer or nmCRPC) or where cancer has spread to other parts of the body and responds to testosterone reduction treatments (metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer or mHSPC). In the latter’s case, Nubeqa is administered in combination with other treatments.

How does it work?
Nubeqa is an androgen receptor (AR) inhibitor. It is formulated to block androgen binding, AR nuclear translocation, and AR-mediated transcription. As a result, the spread of testosterone slackens in the body, taking more time to reach the prostate cancer cells, which helps slow down the progression of the disease.

Efficacy of Nubeqa in clinical trials

Treating mHSPC

• The ARASENS study reported promising results for men with mHSPC. It was found that men who added Nubeqa to hormone therapy and chemotherapy had a 32% lower risk of succumbing to the illness as compared to others who only received hormone therapy and chemotherapy.
• There was also a delayed progression of pain (by 21%) among men with mHSPC who received Nubeqa in combination with hormone therapy and chemotherapy, as compared to those who did not.

Treating nmCRPC

• The ARAMIS study found that Nubeqa helped prevent cancer from spreading. The study, which was conducted among 1509 men, showed that men with nmCRPC who added Nubeqa to hormone therapy lived twice as long without prostate cancer spreading to other parts of the body as men who received hormone therapy alone. The median gap for the same was 3.4 years (for Nubeqa + hormone therapy), compared to 1.5 years (for hormone therapy only).
• Based on the trials, it was also reported that those with nmCRPC who received a combination of Nubeqa and hormone therapy had a 32% lower risk of succumbing as compared to others who only received hormone therapy.
• Significant improvement was noticed in the pain levels among those who received Nubeqa as a treatment for nmCRPC. During the trials, it took 15 extra months for pain to worsen in the trial group (about 40.3 months) compared to the control group (25.4 months).