It provides us with another treatment we can use before chemotherapy. Some of those taking part in the study saw shrinkage in their tumours. However, there were side effects, including impotency, lowered sex drive and breast tenderness. The researchers also believe the supplement contains active anti-cancer ingredients, since it lowered PSA levels in hormone independent patients. Dr Small's team, together with colleagues at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, are now enrolling 100 men into a new study comparing the effect of Pc-spes and oestrogen.
Prostate cancer is the second biggest cancer killer of men after lung cancer.
It kills about 9,500 British men each year and 20,000 new cases are diagnosed annually.