Cheap drug greatly boosts prostate cancer survival

CHICAGO – A study shows that a cheap, decades-old chemotherapy drug extended life by more than a year when added to standard hormone therapy for men with prostate cancer that has spread.

It’s one of the biggest improvements in survival ever seen in an advanced cancer in adults.

Men who received the drug docetaxel (doe-suh-TAX-uhl) lived nearly 58 months versus 44 months for those not given the drug in the study, which was sponsored by the federal government.

The results were discussed Sunday at a meeting of more than 30,000 cancer specialists in Chicago.

Doctors say it shows the importance of testing older medicines now available in generic form.

This one costs about $1,500 per treatment, far less than many newer drugs.