Results of REDUCE study show benefits from Avodart/Avolve (Glaxo Smith Kline) for Prostate Cancer Risk

New results from the four-year REDUCE clinical study evaluating Prostate Cancer Risk reduction in men taking Avodart/Avolve (dutasteride), from Glaxo Smith Kline, have been announced. REDUCE results showed that dutasteride decreased the risk of biopsy detectable Prostate Cancer by 22.8 percent compared to a placebo group, but concerns remained about the drug�s effectiveness. Nearly 2,800 men from the REDUCE study participated, representing extension safety and at-risk populations. In the original study, about half were treated with dutasteride and the remainder received a placebo.

Results showed that few new prostate cancers were detected during the two-year follow-up in either treatment group and no deaths were reported.However, the former dutasteride group produced double the number of cancers than the former placebo group (14 vs. 7). Investigators hypothesize that any prostate cancer that may have been suppressed by dutasteride during REDUCE was no longer being suppressed for those subjects who did not continue on 5ARI therapy. Results from a follow-up study are now published in The Journal of Urology. See: �The REDUCE Follow-up Study: Low Rate of New Prostate Cancer Diagnoses Observed During a 2-year, Observational, Follow-up Study of Men Who Participated in the REDUCE Trial,� by Robert L. Grubb et al. DOI: /10.1016/j.juro.2012.09.099. The Journal of Urology, Volume 189, Issue 3 (March 2013).