An experimental prostate cancer drug developed by Johnson & Johnson that uses a rare radioactive particle called actinium-225 led to three patients seeing their tumors shrink substantially, but four patient deaths, according to the first results from an early-stage study.
The therapy resulted in five cases of interstitial lung disease, which is inflammation and scarring in the lung, and two of those cases were fatal. The two additional patient deaths were also considered related to treatment — one patient had respiratory failure with Covid-19, and low blood pressure and a decrease in appetite were listed as treatment-emergent adverse events for the other patient.
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