Get In The G.a.m.e. (get All Men Educated About Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials) Program Helps Men

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in America among men, with more than 218,000 new cases expected to be diagnosed in 2007. Approximately one in six men is diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime, and all men with prostate cancer are at risk to develop bone metastases.

What many people don't realize is that bone metastases are one of the most frequent causes of pain in people with cancer and may lead to severe skeletal complications, such as fractures, spinal cord compression resulting in paralysis, need for surgery to bone, and need for radiation to bone for pain palliation.

The survey, Cancer Clinical Trials Awareness and Attitudes in Cancer Survivors, conducted by the Coalition of Cancer Cooperative Groups and Northwestern University, polled nearly 2,000 U.S. cancer survivors and found that as few as one in 10 cancer survivors reports ever being made aware of trial opportunities during treatment. For those patients who reported participating in clinical trials, the survey found that 92 percent of participants had a positive experience with their clinical trial.

"This survey tells us that we need to do a better job of informing men about clinical trials that may make a difference in how their disease is managed in helping determine the potential benefit of new agents," said Matthew Smith, M.D., Ph.D., assistant physician, division of hematology/oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Mass. "We are currently conducting clinical trials to evaluate the potential for an investigational therapy to prevent and treat the bone metastases in men with prostate cancer."

"Education about and, when appropriate, participation in clinical trials is so important-that's why we are encouraging dialogue between men with prostate cancer, their families and their physicians," noted Atkins.

To learn more about relevant prostate cancer clinical trials, go to www.rising-psa.com or call (800) 536-8604 (hosted by Amgen, Inc.). Get in the G.A.M.E.-Get All Men Educated about Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials has been made possible by financial support from Amgen, Inc.

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