Dr. Saad on Radium-223 for Prostate Cancer

Fred Saad, MD, professor and chief of Urology, Director of Genitourinary Oncology at the University of Montreal Hospital Centers, discusses radium-223 dichloride (Xofigo) for patients with prostate cancer.

According to a large phase III study, radium-223 improved overall survival and reduced the risk of symptomatic skeletal complications, which led to the FDA approval of radium-223 as a treatment for patients with prostate cancer.

Saad is involved in a trial that compared radium-223 with other treatments that were not available during the pivotal phase III study. Radium-223 was compared with drugs such as abiraterone acetate (Zytiga), enzalutamide (Xtandi), and denosumab (Xgeva). That study showed that patients do well with radium-223, especially if they can get all 6 cycles of therapy, Saad explains.