# Abiraterone acetate for treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer: final overall survival analysis of the COU-AA-301 randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 study

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-abiraterone-acetate-prostate-lancet-oncol-2012/  
OnCo record `paper-abiraterone-acetate-prostate-lancet-oncol-2012` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Phase 2 or 3 results paper on Abiraterone acetate in Prostate cancer, in The Lancet Oncology (2012), one of the most cited Europe PMC records with Abiraterone acetate in its title.

## Summary

Background: Abiraterone acetate improved overall survival in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer at a preplanned interim analysis of the COU-AA-301 double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 study. Here, we present the final analysis of the study before crossover from placebo to abiraterone acetate (after 775 of the prespecified 797 death events).

Methods: Between May 8, 2008, and July 28, 2009, this study enrolled 1195 patients at 147 sites in 13 countries. Patients were eligible if they had metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer progressing after docetaxel. Patients were stratified according to baseline Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status, worst pain over the past 24 h on the Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form, number of previous chemotherapy regimens, and type of progression. Patients were randomly assigned (ratio 2:1) to receive either abiraterone acetate (1000 mg, once daily and orally) plus prednisone (5 mg, orally twice daily) or placebo plus prednisone with a permuted block method via an interactive web response system. The primary endpoint was overall survival, analysed in the intention-to-treat population. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00091442.

Findings: Of the 1195 eligible patients, 797 were randomly assigned to receive abiraterone acetate plus prednisone (abiraterone group) and 398 to receive placebo plus prednisone (placebo group). At median follow-up of 20·2 months (IQR 18·4-22·1), median overall survival for the abiraterone group was longer than in the placebo group (15·8 months [95% CI 14·8-17·0] vs 11·2 months [10·4-13·1]; hazard ratio [HR] 0·74, 95% CI 0·64-0·86; p<0·0001). Median time to PSA progression (8·5 months, 95% CI 8·3-11·1, in the abiraterone group vs 6·6 months, 5·6-8·3, in the placebo group; HR 0·63, 0·52-0·78; p<0·0001), median radiologic progression-free survival (5·6 months, 5·6-6·5, vs 3·6 months, 2·9-5·5; HR 0·66, 0·58-0·76; p<0·0001), and proportion of patients who had a PSA response (235 [29·5%] of 797 patients vs 22 [5·5%] of 398; p<0·0001) were all improved in the abiraterone group compared with the placebo group. The most common grade 3-4 adverse events were fatigue (72 [9%] of 791 patients in the abiraterone group vs 41 [10%] of 394 in the placebo group), anaemia (62 [8%] vs 32 [8%]), back pain (56 [7%] vs 40 [10%]), and bone pain (51 [6%] vs 31 [8%]).

Interpretation: This final analysis confirms that abiraterone acetate significantly prolongs overall survival in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who have progressed after docetaxel treatment. No new safety signals were identified with increased follow-up.

Indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 22995653 (DOI 10.1016/s1470-2045(12)70379-0). Its title names Abiraterone acetate and its text names Prostate cancer; PubMed types it as a clinical trial report (Clinical Trial, Phase III, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Randomized Controlled Trial). It was matched automatically to the idea "Prescribe a quarter dose of abiraterone with breakfast" and no figure has been checked by an editor.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-22
- Tags: europepmc-ingest
- Journal: The Lancet Oncology
- Year: 2012
- DOI: 10.1016/s1470-2045(12)70379-0
- Authors: Fizazi K, Scher HI, Molina A, et al.
- What it means: One of the most cited trial reports Europe PMC returns for Abiraterone acetate in Prostate cancer, so it is a natural first reading for anyone weighing the idea it is linked from. The record was linked automatically by title and abstract; read the abstract above and the paper itself before relying on any figure.
- Caveats: Matched by Abiraterone acetate in the title and Prostate cancer in the title or abstract of the Europe PMC record; the summary reproduces the record's abstract and no figure has been verified against the full paper.; Chosen as a phase 2 or 3 report by the record's publication type or its own wording, not by reading the paper.

## Sources

- Lancet Oncol 2012: https://doi.org/10.1016/s1470-2045(12)70379-0
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22995653/
- Europe PMC: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/22995653

## Connected records

- journals: [The Lancet Oncology](https://onco.cc/journals/lancet-oncology/)
- ideas: [Prescribe a quarter dose of abiraterone with breakfast](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-cost-low-dose-abiraterone-food/)

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