New artificial intelligence test identifies exactly which patients will benefit from abiraterone, making treatment more targeted and cost-effective at just £2.75 per day
The NHS is facing urgent calls to make a “game-changing” prostate cancer drug available to thousands of men after groundbreaking research revealed it can halve the risk of death for one in four patients with high-risk disease that hasn’t yet spread.
The breakthrough comes from a new artificial intelligence test developed by US company Artera Inc., which can identify precisely which men will benefit most from the hormone therapy drug abiraterone. The findings, presented today at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago, could transform treatment for the 22,000 men diagnosed with high-risk prostate cancer in the UK each year.
The Postcode Lottery of Life and Death
While men in Scotland and Wales already have access to abiraterone for newly diagnosed high-risk prostate cancer, the NHS in England continues to deny the drug to approximately 8,400 men annually, despite it costing just £2.75 per day—or £77 per pack.
For every week that passes without access to abiraterone, there are 13 men in England who could have been cured but will instead die from their prostate cancer,” warns Prostate Cancer UK, which is leading calls for immediate government action.
The charity’s Assistant Director of Health Improvement, Amy Rylance, stated: “Right now, men in England find themselves in a desperately unfair and life-threatening situation—where they know there’s a treatment that could cure their cancer and they know it’s working for men in other parts of the UK.
AI Breakthrough Transforms Treatment Precision
The new AI test, developed by Artera Inc. in collaboration with researchers from The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) London and University College London (UCL), analyzes tumor biopsy images to identify patterns invisible to the human eye.
In a study of more than 1,000 men with high-risk prostate cancer from the STAMPEDE trial, the AI identified that 25% of patients would see dramatic benefits from abiraterone. For these men with “biomarker-positive” tumors, the drug cut the five-year mortality risk from 17% to just 9%—effectively halving their risk of death.
Crucially, the test also identified that 75% of men would not benefit significantly from the drug, sparing them from unnecessary side effects including fatigue, high blood pressure, and liver problems.
A British Discovery Denied to British Patients
Ironically, abiraterone was discovered in the UK at The Institute of Cancer Research with funding from Cancer Research UK. The drug works by blocking testosterone production throughout the body, starving prostate cancer cells of the hormone they need to grow.
Professor Nick James, who co-led the research and serves as Chief Investigator of the STAMPEDE trial, expressed frustration at the current situation: “Access to this life-extending drug is currently a postcode lottery. The NHS in England has previously decided that it would be too expensive to offer the drug. Since the patent expired in 2022, abiraterone costs just £77 per pack—compared with the thousands of pounds that new drugs cost.”
Real Lives, Real Costs
The human impact of this policy is starkly illustrated by patient stories. Giles Turner, 64, from Brighton, has spent £20,000 of his own money on abiraterone treatment over the past two years.
I find it very difficult to come to terms with having to pay for this treatment whereas if I was with the NHS in Scotland or Wales I would not,” Turner said. “Even more importantly are the thousands of men in England who are missing out on this cheap, life-saving and cost-saving drug.”
Economic Argument Strengthens Case
Beyond the human cost, research shows that providing abiraterone would actually save the NHS money. An independent study by The Institute of Cancer Research found that preventing cancer relapses would save more than the drug costs to purchase, as fewer men would need expensive treatments for advanced cancer later.
Professor Kristian Helin, Chief Executive of The Institute of Cancer Research, emphasized: “These exciting results suggest a way to make this an even more cost-effective approach. We therefore echo the researchers’ urgent call for abiraterone to be made available to those men whose lives it can save—men who, thanks to this research, we can now identify more precisely than ever before.
The Science Behind the Breakthrough
The STAMPEDE trial, the world’s largest clinical trial for prostate cancer, has been running for over a decade and has recruited more than 10,000 patients. It has led to 29 changes in clinical practice worldwide.
The latest findings show that adding abiraterone to standard treatment (hormone therapy and radiotherapy) for two years can prevent the cancer from spreading and dramatically improve survival rates. In the trial:
- Only 7% of patients receiving abiraterone died from prostate cancer during the 6-year follow-up
- This compared to 15% of those receiving standard care alone
- The treatment prevented cancer from spreading in many cases
With the AI test now able to identify exactly which patients will benefit, healthcare leaders say there’s no excuse for further delays.
Dr. Matthew Hobbs, Director of Research at Prostate Cancer UK, called the development “exciting” and added: “We urgently call for abiraterone to be made available to those men whose lives it can save—men who, thanks to this research, we can now identify more precisely than ever before.
The research team is calling for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and NHS England to urgently review their position, especially given that:
- The drug now costs a fraction of its original price
- AI can identify exactly who will benefit
- It would save money overall by preventing advanced cancer
- Men are dying unnecessarily while waiting
A New Era of Precision Medicine
Professor Gert Attard from UCL Cancer Institute, who co-led the study, highlighted the broader implications: “This study shows, in a very large cohort of patients, that novel algorithms can be used to extract information from routinely available pathology slides to tailor these treatments to specific patients and minimize over-treatment while maximizing the chance of cure.”
The ArteraAI Prostate Test represents a significant advance in precision oncology, ensuring life-saving medications are used only where they’ll benefit patients most, while sparing others from unnecessary side effects.
The Clock Is Ticking
As the research is presented at ASCO this week, pressure is mounting on NHS England to act. The technology is ready, the drug is affordable, and the benefits are clear. For the 8,400 men diagnosed with high-risk prostate cancer in England each year, access to abiraterone could mean the difference between life and death.
The question now is not whether the NHS should fund abiraterone for these patients, but how quickly it can act to end what campaigners call a “bureaucratic blockage” that is costing lives every single day.
Image credit: Thank You NHS flag by Zakhx150, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
