The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) in Japan has approved the oral androgen receptor inhibitor (ARi) darolutamide plus ADT in combination with docetaxel in the indication of metastatic prostate cancer.

The MHLW approval is based on the positive results from the Phase III ARASENS trial, which demonstrated that darolutamide plus androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in combination with docetaxel significantly reduced the risk of death by 32.5% compared to ADT with docetaxel, in patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC). Additionally, the darolutamide combination showed consistent benefits across clinically relevant secondary endpoints, with the overall incidence of treatment-emergent adverse events being similar between treatment arms.

Investigated in a broad development program

Darolutamide is already approved in Japan for the treatment of patients with non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (nmCRPC) under the brand name Nubeqa.

Darolutamide plus ADT in combination with docetaxel was recently recommended for EU marketing authorisationfor the treatment of mHSPC by the European Medicine Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), with a final decision expected in the coming months. The compound is already approved in its second indication, mHSPC, in a number of markets including the U.S. Filings in other regions are underway or planned by Orion’s collaboration partner Bayer.

Darolutamide is being investigated in a broad development program with three additional ongoing or planned large clinical studies, to evauate its potential across prostate cancer patients from the early- to the late-stage of this disease. This includes the ARANOTE Phase III trial evaluating darolutamide plus androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) versus ADT alone for mHSPC.

Darolutamide is developed jointly by Orion and Bayer.

Photo: Orion R&D