"Radium-223 chloride is an effective, well tolerated, and convenient treatment, and it has a survival benefit. These favorable characteristics may well promote its use in clinical practice,” said formal discussant of this abstract, Wim J.G. Oyen, MD, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

“An alpha-emitting radiopharmaceutical appears to have more advantages than beta-emitters,” he said.  “Beta-emitters aim at palliation of pain, but they have frequent adverse events and no survival advantage,” Dr. Oyen said, adding that hematologic toxicity is common.

“ALSYMPCA demonstrated a remarkable survival advantage for radium-223, with limited, if any, toxicity,” Dr. Oyen said.

“Put in perspective with other trials of newer treatments for prostate cancer, radium-223 achieved a gain of 2.8 months in overall survival, very similar to other new treatment options such as abiraterone (Zytiga), which gained 3.9 months, and sipuleucil-T (Provenge), which produced a survival gain of 4 months.

Dr. Oyen said that in order to explore further patient benefits, radium-223 should be studied in combination with other therapies and should be explored in the adjuvant setting for high-risk patients. ■

Disclosure: Dr. Oyen reported no potential conflicts of interest.