Facts

• In a study published in the July 2008 Journal of Clinical Oncology, Abiraterone demonstrated the ability to shrink prostate tumors and extend life expectancy in up to 80 percent of men with aggressive prostate cancer.
  
  

Function

• Abiraterone blocks the enzyme cytochrome P17, which controls testosterone production in the body. This stops the adrenal glands, testes, and even the tumors themselves from making testosterone, causing prostate tumors to shrink.
  
  

Time Frame

• In the same July 2008 Journal of Clinical Oncology study, subjects who responded to Abiraterone saw a drop in their number of cancer cells for between two and eighteen months.
  
  

Effects

• In initial studies, the side effects of Abiraterone have been considered mild. The complaints reported most often included fatigue, fluid retention in ankles, headaches, hot flashes, loss of appetite, rise in blood pressure, and a change in potassium and sodium blood levels.
  
  

History

• Scientists at the Institute for Cancer Research (ICR) in the Cancer Research UK Centre for Cancer Therapeutics discovered Abiraterone. The drug was then licensed to Cougar Biotechnology, Inc, with subsequent studies carried out in cooperation with the ICR and the Royal Marsden Hospital.