According to a new study, by taking a high-cost drug with a low-fat meal instead on an empty stomach, as prescribed, prostate cancer patients could decrease their daily dose, prevent digestive issues and cut costs by 75 percent.
Abiraterone, approved in 2011 for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer, has a “food effect” that is greater than any other marketed drug. The amount of abiraterone that gets absorbed and enters the blood stream can be multiplied four or five times if the drug is swallowed with a low-fat meal (7 percent fat, about 300 calories). That can increase to 10 times with a high-fat meal (57 percent fat, 825 calories).
Working with colleagues at the University of Chicago as well as researchers at the National Cancer Institute, Emory University, Illinois Cancer Care in Peoria, Illinois, and the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore, the team designed a clinical trial that could compare the cost, risks and benefits of taking this drug with or without breakfast.
The researchers found that the lower dose with breakfast kept the disease under control as well as the recommended dose. Abiraterone’s ability to lower levels of prostate-specific antigen, a surrogate marker for prostate cancer, was slightly greater for patients in the low-dose with food group when measured at 12 weeks.