New weapon in prostate cancer fight

Marketed by AstraZeneca as Lynparza, which is already approved for ovarian cancer, it recently produced good results in breast cancer.

It is now in clinical development for use against prostate tumours.

Researchers at the Institute of Cancer Research in London said yesterday that their new test was able to pick out which men with advanced prostate cancer were likely to benefit from the drug. It could check on whether those taking the drug were responding.

The test can quickly detect if prostate cancer is evolving genetically and might be becoming drug-resistant.

They hope this will allow Lynparza to become a standard weapon against advanced prostate cancer. It would be targeted selectively at the men most likely to benefit.

The development of the new test, reported in the medical journal Cancer Discovery, is a step forward for liquid biopsies, which involve blood sampling as opposed to an invasive tissue biopsy.