A new drug for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer developed by Meditivation and Astellas Pharma has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration – FDA. The drug, called Ztandi (enzalutamide), is approved for use in patients with metastatic prostate cancer who have already received hormone therapy and chemotherapy. The drug is currently being tested in patients with early-stage prostate cancer. Ztandi belongs to the androgen receptor antagonist drugs that inhibit the growth of cancer cells stimulated by testosterone. In a statement by Dr. Richard Pazdur, director of the Division of Hematology and Oncology Products at the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, it was mentioned that the need for new treatment alternatives for advanced prostate cancer remains great. Ztandi is the latest drug to show that it can extend the lives of these patients. The FDA said patients taking Ztandi had a median survival of 18.4 months, compared to 13.6 months for patients taking a placebo. NEWS_MORE_BOX The study found that the most common side effects of the drug were fatigue, back pain, upper respiratory infections and dizziness. Less than 1% of patients develop a seizure, so post-marketing studies are needed to elucidate the risk of this adverse drug reaction in detail. Dr. David Crawford, head of the Department of Urologic Oncology at the University of Colorado, believes that this is just the beginning of the series of successes with this drug and that in the near future it will also be used in early stage prostate cancer. Meditivation announced that they will begin selling Ztandi in the US in mid-September at a price of $7,450 for a one-month course of treatment.