ESMO 2025 Real-world data confirm effectiveness of radium-223

MedNet.nl: Spanish researchers investigated the effectiveness and safety of radium-223 in daily clinical practice in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). A retrospective analysis of 73 patients shows that the efficacy of radium-223 is comparable to that seen in clinical studies.

For the study, the researchers collected data on all patients with mCRPC who were treated with radium-223 outside of a study setting at the Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre in Madrid between November 2015 and August 2023. The 73 patients included had a median age of 78 years. Approximately half had been diagnosed with metastatic disease, and approximately 77% had more than five bone metastases and 43% had more than 10. The majority had previously been treated in the metastatic setting: 88% with androgen receptor-targeted therapy, 58% with docetaxel, 25% with cabazitaxel, and 6% with 177-Lu-PSMA-617.

The median overall survival (OS) was 15.7 months, and after 12 months, 65.0% of patients were still alive. The median time to progression was 5.1 months, and after 6 and 12 months, 46.0% and 14.0%, respectively were still progression-free. A subgroup analysis also showed a clear difference in OS between patients who had received all six planned injections of radium-223 and patients who had not completed the treatment. The OS in these groups after 12 months was 96.3% versus 46.1% (HR=0.43).

The results show that radium-223 leads to durable survival in older, pretreated patients with mCRPC in clinical practice, the researchers say. The results further underscore the importance of administering all six courses of treatment.

Alvarez Ballesteros P, et al. Real-world experience with radium-223 in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer: a single-center retrospective study. ESMO 2025, abstract 2412P.

This article was originally published in Dutch on MedNet.nl