Novel hormonal agents for metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer: comparing outcomes. A single-center retrospective study

Introduction: Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, accounting for 15% of all diagnosed cancers and is the sixth leading cause of cancer-related deaths amongst men worldwide. Abiraterone and enzalutamide were the first two novel hormonal agents approved for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer but there is a lack of quality evidence regarding which is associated with better outcomes and who would benefit the most with one or another of these drugs. Objective: To evaluate the clinical outcomes of real-world patients submitted to treatment with novel hormonal agents, enzalutamide and abiraterone, for castration resistant metastatic prostate cancer in an academic center. Patients and methods: We retrospectively reviewed patients treated for castration-resistant prostate cancer with either abiraterone or enzuktiamide between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2019. The primary endpoints were biochemical response, biochemical progression, radiological progression, clinical deterioration (attributed to disease progression) and death. Results: Enzalutamide had a higher biochemical response rate than abiraterone in patients with mCRPC (77.1% vs 58.1%, p = 0.016). Achieving a biochemical response was associated with a lower risk of biochemical progression (OR: 0.248, p = 0.017) and death (OR: 0.302, p = 0.038). Conclusions: Enzalutamide conferred higher biochemical response rate than abiraterone in patients with mCRPC. Despite the trend to better performance of other endpoints in the enzalutamide group, it did not achieve statistical significance. Well-designed prospective studies are needed to elucidate the comparative efficacies of these agents.

Automated summary

This study retrospectively evaluated patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer treated with abiraterone or enzalutamide from 2016 to 2019. Results showed that enzalutamide had a higher biochemical response rate than abiraterone in mCRPC patients, and achieving a biochemical response was associated with lower risks of biochemical progression and death.