ENZAMET

Enzalutamide is a new hormone treatment taken as tablets. Previous trials have proven that enzalutamide improves survival and quality of life in people with prostate cancer that has stopped responding to standard hormone treatments and chemotherapy.

This large, international randomised trial was undertaken to determine if treatment with enzalutamide can improve survival and quality of life in people starting hormone treatment for newly diagnosed prostate cancer that has spread beyond the prostate. The trial was led from Australia by ANZUP in collaboration with the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre. It involved 1,125 people from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US, Ireland, and the UK.

In 2020 the ENZAMET trial won all three of the Australian Clinical Trials Alliance (ACTA) Awards. The ENZAMET trial was awarded the 2020 ACTA Trial of the Year Award, the ACTA STInG Award for Excellence in Trial Statistics and the Consumer Involvement Award.

This landmark Australian led clinical trial, ENZAMET, has now shown that hormone therapy with a drug called enzalutamide can improve the survival of some people with advanced, hormone-sensitive prostate cancer. Findings from the ENZAMET trial, led by ANZUP, have shown that people with this sort of cancer who receive enzalutamide with standard treatment have a 33% improvement in survival compared to people receiving standard treatment alone and a 60% improvement in the time it takes to detect the cancer growing again. These results were much better than it was thought they might be when the trial began.

The ANZUP investigator initiated studies were financially supported by Astellas, who also provided enzalutamide.