Ferring Pharmaceuticals commences new advanced prostate cancer trial

Ferring Pharmaceuticals has commenced a clinical trial assessing the heart health impact of prostate cancer therapies.

The phase IIIb PRONOUNCE trial will compare the occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease receiving the drugs degarelix or leuprolide.

Both drugs are examples of androgen deprivation therapies, considered the gold standard treatment for patients with advanced prostate cancer. However, this approach has been shown to be associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease.

The aim of this study will be to see if degarelix offers a better cardiovascular safety profile than leuprolide. It will enrol around 900 patients across more than 50 trial sites in the US and Canada.

Dr Pascal Danglas, chief medical officer at Ferring Pharmaceuticals, said: "The start of the PRONOUNCE trial marks another important milestone in Ferring's longstanding commitment to improving the lives of men living with prostate cancer."

This comes after the firm allied with the Karolinska Institutet last month on a human microbiome translational research programme.