Prostate drug so successful, offered to control group

A new experimental drug to treat prostate cancer has proved so successful that European doctors testing the drug have concluded the trials and offered the drug to all of the participating patients.

BERLIN, GERMANY (Catholic Online) - The experimental drug, known as Alpharadin, has been developed by Germany's Bayer and Norway's Algeta firms. Cancer experts are hailing the new drug as a great step forward in treatment of the disease.

The drug itself is made with radium-223 chloride, which includes small doses of high-level alpha radiation. When administered, doctors found that it did very little damage to surrounding tissue and it accurately targeted the cancer cells themselves. 

In fact, the doctors found the drug to be so effective, that they offered treatment to the control group of patients as well as the test group, saying they felt it was unethical not to do so.

Doctors found the drug to be particularly effective in targeting cancer cells which have spread to surrounding tissue and bone. They also found that the side effects of the drug are very mild compared to other traditional treatments. Patients who received the drug had their lives significantly prolonged as a result. 

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men, following lung cancer. If the drug continues to prove effective, experts believe it may come into widespread use by 2015.

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