Re: Bayer drug shows promise in treating advanced prostate cancer

[Guest guest]

Milt wrote:

> This article from yesterday's Wall Street Journal may be of interest to some

of

>you.

....

Alpharadin is an interesting drug. It binds a radioactive particle to

a molecule that is absorbed into growing bone. In prostate cancer, the

fastest growing bone by far is bone that is hosting prostate cancer

cells, so that's where most of the radiation goes - killing off the

PCa cells.

I think the original idea of the drug was to treat bone pain, which

it apparently does. A perhaps unexpected benefit occurred in survival

because so many cancer patients have most of their tumors in the bones.

Killing those tumors allowed the patients to live longer.

If I had bone pain this is a drug I'd be very interested in.

Alan