Metastatic prostate cancer progression may be delayed by the earlier use of targeted radionuclide therapy when administered as part of a trio of drugs, according to a phase 3 clinical trial led by Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

The results, published in The Lancet, may change the standard of care for many patients with prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-positive metastatic prostate cancer. 

The most common therapy had been an androgen receptor pathway inhibitor (ARPI) paired with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). But the trial showed that adding a targeted radionuclide therapy drug called 177Lu-PSMA-617 to the therapy in patients with PSMA-positive cancer, reduces the risk of disease progression by up to 28% when given soon after the diagnosis of metastatic cancer. 

Results of the study and ongoing analyses led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve early use of the drug for PSMA-positive metastatic prostate cancer in late July 2026.

“About 9 out of 10 patients with metastatic prostate cancer have tumours that are positive for PSMA,” said lead author Dr. Scott Tagawa, director of the Genitourinary Oncology Program at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. “Now, we have a new therapy that, when added to the backbone therapy, extended radiographic progression-free survival for almost all patients with metastatic prostate cancer.”