Jevtana or cabazitaxel

Jevtana or cabazitaxel
New ’biologic’ drug made by Sanofi. This targets prostate cancer that has worsened after treatment with other anti-cancer treatments including docetaxol and costs roughly 3,750 pounds or $5,300 US a month. The mean increased survival time in research was 2 months. It is an injectible treatment and used with the steroid prednisone.  It was appoved by the FDA in June 2010 after a priority review.

The drug is a semi-synthetic (Ed: ?! It is either synthetic or it is natural. New EU laws on supplements forbid and vitamin being called natural if it is changed in any way after its natural sourcing) derivative of a natural taxoid. Natural taxoids are proven to kill cancer cells.

To quote from Wikipedia: In a phase III trial with 755 men for the treatment of hormone-refractory prostate cancer, median survival was 15.1 months for patients receiving cabazitaxel versus 12.7 months for patients receiving mitoxantrone. Cabazitaxel was associated with more grade 3-4 neutropenia (81.7%) than mitoxantrone (58%).

Approved by

the Medical Board. 

Click Here

NICE does not recommended the drug, (Jan 2012) saying that the side effects were a concern:  The most commonly-occurring adverse reactions with Jevtana relate to bone marrow suppression and include anaemia, leukopenia, neutropenia and thrombocytopenia, and gastrointestinal events such as diarrhoea. For the committee, haematological adverse events and diarrhoea were major concerns, says NICE.

 

Other articles that you may find interesting are:

  1. A diet for Chemotherapy
  2. Immunotherapy overview
  3. A to Z Guide to Complementary Therapies

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