There is some controversies on this as to are all LHRH drugs the same or equivalent? Well there is not likely a study comparing them all and Dr. Kongrad wrote this about
it: Are all LHRH agonists “just the same”? This just partial info from that written piece, which ended up saying they don't know if they are identical in totality, but as to said same class and class effect seems likely they are the same, as they do the same thing, more or less. Degarelix is a GnRH and is a little different in how it works, without the T flare issue. Note that Lupron has approx. 75% of USA sales/marketing, Zoladex may be next in sales after that and it usually costs less too and is pellet like implant vs. liquid Lupron. Trelstar, Precisis, Eligard and others are in the LHRH group. Dr. Kongrad article in partial form:
Posted Oct 09 2010 12:00am
When all the drugs in the same class have the same general clinical impact, this is known as a “class effect.” As an example, all statins (hydroxymethylglutaryl–coenzyme A reductase inhibitors) will lower risk for certain types of cardiovascular event because they lower levels of cholesterol. That is a “class effect.”
Lueteinizing hormone releasing hormone or LHRH agonists (also often referred to as gonadatropin releasing hormone or GnRH agonists) also have “class effects” in that they all lower male testosterone levels and they all induce “hot flashes” (to varying degrees) in nearly all patients. However, just as different statins can have different effects on different patients, it is reasonable to believe that different LHRH agonists may also have different effects in different patients but, as Vilar-González et al. have noted in a recent paper, there is almost no useful, comparative information on the clinical effects of the different LHRH agonists.
So what are the different LHRH agonists that have been shown to lower testosterone levels in men with progressive forms of prostate cancer. There are, in fact, six such agents:
Leuprolide acetate (Lupron, Eligard, Viadur)
Goserelin acetate (Zoladex)
Histrelin acetate (Vantas)
Triptorelin pamoate (Trelstar)
Buserelin acetate (Suprefact)
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*(my words): do see www.hrpca.org (proven treatments-various drugs and second line drugs for PCa)
Chemo is not necessarily the only or immediate choice and many have chosen to try those second line drugs as mentioned and as with anything in PCa, results vary. You might seek a second opinion from another oncologist and better yet a PCa specialist oncologist. There are various things that could be tried, but should be done so sooner vs. later. Best to your choices and results. Each PCa case can be unique, example like myself, failed ADT3 control in late 2004, switched to old school drug of DES 1mg, got about
8 yrs. of control and no side effect issues thereafter (huge results in this hrpca scenarios), now doing other protocols as that finally has failed me.
Post Edited (zufus) : 4/3/2013 9:01:27 AM (GMT-6)