Pluvicto

The University of Kansas Cancer Center is the first and only cancer center in the region to offer an innovative prostate cancer treatment for men with metastatic prostate cancer.

Pluvicto® is a new targeted therapy for metastatic prostate cancer. It is the first FDA-approved targeted radioligand therapy available for PSMA-positive metastatic hormone-resistant (also known as castrate-resistant) prostate cancer.

Metastatic prostate cancer is especially difficult to treat, with a 5-year survival rate of less than 30%. Over the past decade, the number of men diagnosed with metastatic prostate disease has increased. According to an analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 2003 and 2017 the percentage of men diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer increased to 8% from 4%.

While Pluvicto is not a cure for metastatic prostate cancer, it can give you a longer life and improved quality of life with reduced side effects.

Pluvicto is a new targeted therapy for metastatic prostate cancer that delivers radiation treatment directly to prostate-specific membrane antigen or PSMA-positive cancer cells. It is the first FDA-approved targeted radioligand therapy available for PSMA-positive metastatic hormone-resistant prostate cancer. PSMA-positive metastatic hormone-resistant prostate cancer is cancer that has spread to other parts of the body or metastasized.

Pluvicto is a type of precision cancer treatment you receive through injection or infusion. The drug travels throughout your body and targets cancer cells with the PSMA biomarker, a protein found on most prostate cancer cells. Pluvicto treatment is given as 6 separate infusions and the infusions are about 6 weeks apart.

Who can have Pluvicto?

To receive Pluvicto, you must have metastatic prostate cancer that is hormone-resistant and tumors that overproduce the PSMA protein. Your cancer must also have progressed after standard chemotherapy cancer treatments. You may be eligible to receive Pluvicto treatment if your prostate cancer:

• Has not responded to hormone treatment that lowers your testosterone
• Has spread to other parts of your body
• Expresses PSMA on a PSMA PET/CT scan

Like many radiopharmaceuticals, Pluvicto has 2 components: a drug that delivers the therapy to cancer cells and a radioactive particle that kills the cancer cells.  According to the National Cancer Institute, the delivery vehicle in Pluvicto is a drug that latches onto a protein called PSMA that is found at high levels on the surface of prostate cancer cells. The radioactive particle delivers radiation to kill the PSMA-expressing cells.

The radioactive particle in Pluvicto is similar to the innovative Lutathera® which provides advanced, targeted nuclear medicine radiation therapy to cancer patients and was approved by the FDA in 2018.

As a radiopharmaceutical – or heat-seeking missile – Pluvicto searches out PSMA throughout the body, attaches to it and is absorbed by the cell. Once absorbed, Pluvicto releases radiation that damages and kills cancer cells that are PSMA-positive and spares the healthy cells around it. These PSMA-positive cancer cells can be in bones, the liver, prostate, lungs or most areas where prostate cancer has spread.

All medications may cause side effects. However, you may have no side effects or only minor side effects. Overall, side effects of Pluvicto may include:

• Feeling dizzy, tired or weak
• Dry mouth
• Weight loss
• Constipation
• Stomach pain
• Headache
• Change in taste
• Diarrhea, upset stomach and decreased appetite
• Low blood counts
• Kidney dysfunction

As the region’s only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, we offer every treatment option available and the most advanced technology for all stages of prostate cancer, including metastatic prostate cancer.

Our comprehensive prostate cancer team includes subspecialized, fellowship-trained urologic oncologists, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, radiologists and pathologists that only specialize in prostate cancer.

We are at the forefront of clinical studies with immunotherapy and targeted therapy used for the treatment of prostate cancer. As such, we are the first and only cancer center in the region to offer FDA-approved Pluvicto for metastatic prostate cancer. Pluvicto is not a cure for metastatic prostate cancer, but it can give you a longer life and improved quality of life with reduced side effects.

As with any cancer treatment, the expertise of the physician is very important. Physicians at The University of Kansas Cancer Center are nationally renowned experts who are now accepting medical oncology referrals for Pluvicto. Call nurse navigation at 913-588-1227 to find out if Pluvicto is right for you.