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# Vaccine extends life in patients with advanced prostate cancer
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/vaccine_advanced_prostate_cancer_2904101101/
- Published: 2010-04-29T22:57:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:14:05.000Z
- Description: FDA approved Provenge, made from a patient's own cells, for advanced prostate cancer. In a 512-man trial it added about four months of life, with 32 percent alive at three years against 23 percent on placebo. One in four had a serious side effect; Dendreon priced three shots at $93,000.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Drug, Health News, #vivvo-import

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a therapeutic vaccine indicated to treat advanced prostate cancer, according to media reports.

This vaccine known as Provenge doesn't prevent cancer. It gives patients with advanced prostate cancer four more months to live, said Philip Kantoff of Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute who conducted a trial of 512 men.

The trial results showed 32 percent of men receiving Provenge were still alive after three years compared with 23 percent among those who received a placebo.

Side effects associated with this prostate cancer vaccine include mild symptoms, such as fevers, chills and headaches. But one in four patients experienced a serious side effect and more people using Provenge suffered stroke than those who used a placebo.

Provenge is made of a patient's own cells and designed to train the patient's immune system to recognize and kill cancer cells, Kontoff was cited as saying.

Dendreon, the vaccine's maker said the prostate cancer vaccine will cost $93,000 for three shots per patient.

More than 175,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each eayr in the United States. Many prostate cancer cases may be avoided if some risk factors are avoided.

JD