If clinical trials go well, a new drug simulating the effects of normal sunlight and increasing the life expectancy of prostate cancer patients, could be available in 2009.The drug, Asentar, provided levels of vitamin D between 50 and 100 times higher than levels delivered by the sun and could double life expectancy from nine to 18 months for those taking the pills. Absent would be any of the consequences associated with such an overdose.
"An extension of nine months would be very significant in my view," said Nick James of the University of Birmingham. "If the results of the phase III trial are as good as those of the phase II trial, that would be significant."
Details about this study can be found in the journal Chemistry & Industry.
