MEMBER QUESTION:
Can you tell me about Taxotere and its role in helping with prostate cancer?

OH:
Taxotere is a chemotherapy drug that was approved last year for the treatment of hormone refractory prostate cancer. Taxotere given to these most advanced patients allowed them to live longer by 25%. This was a very significant step forward.

Currently research directed toward administering drugs like Taxotere earlier in the patient's course, so we are not waiting for the cancer to metastasize to the bones or to become refractory or resistant to hormones. These studies are ongoing, but we're very hopeful that drugs like Taxotere will help men particularly with high-risk prostate cancer, at diagnosis, to in fact try to improve their cure rates. We know in diseases like breast cancer that using chemotherapy drugs earlier has a greater impact than waiting until the cancer becomes more advanced. We are just starting this process for prostate cancer patients but are very excited about new research building on Taxotere and its success.

MODERATOR:
Before we wrap things up for today, Dr. Oh, do you have any final words for us?

OH:
I'd like to thank everybody and to say that from a research perspective and being a doctor who takes care of prostate cancer patients, I'm extremely excited about what the future holds, but also humbled by the challenges my patients go through.

For early prostate cancer patients our challenge is to understand who should receive treatment and who should not, if treatment is warranted, and what the best treatment is for any single patient.

For patients who are not cured by their initial treatment for prostate cancer we need to come up with better therapies. This is an exciting area of research and I believe we will have important new treatments over the next few years. I would encourage patients in this group of recurrent or advanced disease to participate in clinical trials and to seek out opinions from medical oncologists involved in the care of prostate cancer patients.

I have great optimism for the future and hope our efforts will have a meaningful impact on patients' lives in the near future.

MODERATOR:
Our thanks to William K. Oh, MD, for joining us today. And thanks to you, members, for your great questions. I'm sorry we couldn't get to all of them.

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