Dr. McKay on Rationale for Real-World Analysis of Radium-223 in mCRPC

Rana R. McKay, MD, assistant professor of medicine and medical oncologist at the University of California, San Diego, discusses the rationale for conducting a real-world analysis of radium-223 dichloride (Xofigo) in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

Radium-223 is a liquid radiopharmaceutical that has been demonstrated to improve survival in patients with advanced prostate cancer, specifically those who have bone metastases, symptomatic bone pain, and no visceral metastases, says McKay. Although results from the phase III ALSYMPCA trial demonstrated improvement in overall survival when using radium-223, real-world data documenting how this agent is used in the space has been limited.

Since the ALSYMPCA trial, several androgen receptor—targeting agents have received regulatory approval and PARP inhibition is another active area of investigation, adds McKay. Placing radium-223 in the growing treatment landscape in the context of real-world practice has yet to be established. As such, the rationale for the real-world analysis was to characterize the use of radium-223 in the real-world setting, concludes McKay.