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| |  New Education Program For Men Facing Late-Stage Prostate Cancer NEW-YORK -- January 14, 1997 -- Pain is key problem; aggressive management, including chemotherapy, called for Singer-actor Harry Belafonte, medical leaders and prostate cancer patient advocacy groups joined Immunex Corporation today in launching EPIC (Empowered Patients In Control), an education program designed to help the more than 40,000 men in the U.S. with late-stage prostate cancer confront the severe physical and emotional issues they face. Immunex markets Novantrone(R)(mitoxantrone), the first chemotherapy treatment indicated (in combination with corticosteroids) for patients with pain related to advanced, hormone refractory prostate cancer. One of the most significant problems for men with advanced prostate cancer is inadequate relief of severe, and sometimes excruciating, bone pain. The pain can be so intense that it immobilizes the patient, making it impossible for him to get out of bed or tie a shoe. "While the late-stage prostate cancer patient's medical needs are being met, other issues, like pain management, are often insufficiently addressed," said Richard Payne, MD, professor of neurology and chief, section of pain and symptom management, at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. A key barrier to pain relief is the medical community's emphasis on curative disease treatment rather than the assessment and management of pain. "Physicians caring for these patients must realize that unrelenting pain takes a tremendous physical and psychological toll on the patient and his family, and must be aggressively treated," said Dr. Payne. "The patient can set up obstacles too," added Dr. Payne. "He may fear that complaining about pain is a sign of weakness and may distract the physician from treating the underlying disease." Prostate cancer survivor Harry Belafonte and his wife, Julie, underscored the need for cancer education programs that empower patients to take an active role in their treatment. "It is only when we stare these problems in the face that we can truly seek to solve them," said Mr. Belafonte. "EPIC will help late-stage patients and their families confront some tough issues, while providing guidance in establishing a partnership with their medical team that ensures that all their physical and emotional needs are being met." Serving as the cornerstone of the EPIC program is its panel of medical experts in the fields of urology, oncology, neuro-oncology and psychology, as well as representatives from leading prostate cancer patient organizations, including US TOO! International, Inc. and the American Foundation for Urologic Disease (AFUD). The EPIC panel is developing a definitive manual that will provide treatment guidelines, therapy goals and support materials for the hormone refractory prostate cancer patient, his family, and the physicians who care for him. The education program's primary focus is to increase understanding of the special needs of the hormone refractory prostate cancer patient, including the management of pain caused by cancer metastases. EPIC was developed to focus attention on this issue, which is increasingly being recognized by the medical community as a serious problem for many patients with late-stage prostate cancer, most of whom have had limited guidance in managing the effects of the disease at this stage. In addition to Dr. Payne, EPIC panelists include E. David Crawford, MD, professor, division of urology, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Marc B. Garnick, MD, associate professor of medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and Robert H. Phillips, PhD, Center for Coping, New York. Hormone refractory prostate cancer (HRPC) occurs when hormonal therapy fails to keep the disease from progressing. As cancer spreads, or metastasizes, to the bone, the dominant symptom is often severe, debilitating pain. It is estimated that 40,000 advanced prostate cancer patients fail hormone therapy each year. Life expectancy for patients with HRPC is 12 months or less, and this time is often spent coping with pain. In 1996, there were an estimated 317,000 new cases of prostate cancer in the U.S., making it the most common male cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the U.S. after lung cancer.
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