Dr. Petrylak on Sipuleucel-T Delaying First Opioid Use

Daniel P. Petrylak, MD, director, Prostate and Genitourinary Cancer Program, co-director, Signal Transduction Research Program, at the Smilow Cancer Center at Yale-New Haven, discusses the relationship between sipuleucel-T (Provenge) and time to first use of an opioid analgesic in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

The patient discussion regarding treatment with sipuleucel-T can be challenging since clinical parameters outside of overall survival are largely unavailable, Petrylak notes. As a result, data on pain progression from three randomized trials that investigated sipuleucel-T in men with mCRPC were analyzed.

In general, the analysis found a trend toward a delay in pain progression in favor of treatment with sipuleucel-T. Additionally, Petrylak notes, a significant increase in the time to first use of an opioid analgesic was observed. Overall, this is a clinically meaningful difference; however, these findings may still need to be validated, Petrylak concludes.