Prostate cancer (mCRPC) Therapies: Satellite Symposium

Worldwide, prostate cancer is the second most diagnosed cancer type in men. Despite advances towards early detection and treatment of low-grade and localized prostate cancer, metastatic prostate cancer remains one of the most common causes of male cancer-related deaths globally. Treatment options for men with advanced prostate cancer have largely been centered around hormone therapy (androgen-deprivation therapy), radiation therapy, chemotherapy and immunotherapy. These treatments, however, provide limited durability and most patients eventually develop a resistant cancer, which doesn’t respond to any other current therapies1. It wasn’t until next-generation sequencing technology that researchers were able to show that 90% of prostate cancers have actionable molecular targets with 20% having defects in the DNA damage response genes BRCA1, BRCA2, and ATM among others2. Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARPs) play a significant role in several of these DNA-damage response (DDR) pathways3,4. As of June 2020, two PARP inhibitors (PARPi) – rucaparib and olaparib have been FDA-approved for the treatment of metastatic castration-resistance prostate cancers (mCRPR) harboring select homologous recombination repair (HRR) gene mutations. Only olaparib has been FDA-approved to be used in combination with other treatments5. In the past couple of years, there has been an expedited increase in clinical trials, and efficacy studies on PARPi for the treatment of mCRPR. Advancements in this area has made it increasingly challenging for healthcare professionals (HCPs) to keep up with the dynamic knowledge in a manner that is beneficial for the patients they serve. The overarching goal of this satellite symposium event is to enhance the understanding of the use of PARPi combinations with androgen-targeted therapies, when they should be used confidently, the patients that they serve the best, and the current state of clinical trials.