Dr. Scott Tagawa receives Clinical Trial Award from the U.S. Department of Defense
Dr. Scott Tagawa of the Division of Hematology/Oncology, has received a Clinical Trial Award from the U.S. Department of Defense, as part of its Prostate Cancer Research Program. The grant, in the amount of $750,000, will fund a multi-center clinical trial focusing on targeted radiotherapy in Prostate Cancer over the course of three years. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer to affect American men and unfortunately approximately 50,000 men per year in the U.S. alone will have tumor recurrence (elevated PSA) after initial treatment with surgery or radiation. In recent years, therapy that specifically targets cancer cells, sparing other cells, has shown great promise. WCMC investigators have developed an antibody (J591) that specifically targets prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) and have shown success in treating men with a radiolabeled version of this antibody in men with metastatic, castrate resistant disease. It is known that radiation can lead to a cure in a small number of individuals with a recurrence after surgery, but eventually most men suffer from progressive cancer and succumb to the disease because of small (microscopic) sites of cancer outside of the radiation field. By linking a radioactive particle to the anti-PSMA antibody, investigators hope to target small sites of disease not evident on scans leading to a potential cure in some men with "targeted radiotherapy". Weill Cornell physicians will lead this multi-center trial with funding through the Department of Defense.