Movember: The Mo is calling!

To mark this year’s Movember campaign: ‘The Mo is calling’, we’re celebrating advances in the design and manufacture of prostate cancer drugs - and explaining how LGC Standards can help you to get ‘mo’ from your research.

‘Men’s health is in crisis. Men are dying on average 4.5 years earlier than women, and for largely preventable reasons’, is the stark call to action from leading men’s health charity Movember – set up to address diverse health causes, from prostate and testicular cancer to mental health. Here at LGC Standards, we’re marking Movember 2023 by celebrating the hard work of scientists working to design and manufacture prostate cancer drugs - and by explaining how LGC can support you.

Prostate cancer is the second most diagnosed cancer in men. Over the past decade, breakthroughs in genomics and molecular imaging techniques have underpinned significant advancements in our understanding of the complex, heterogeneous nature of prostate cancer biology – thereby laying the foundations for the design of targeted therapies such as the PARP inhibitor niraparib, and the radio-pharmaceutical lutetium.

LGC standards’ TRC brand contains a vast range of research chemicals, including many novel molecules, which are used widely within prostate cancer research and development. Our products help scientists to probe tumour biology and drug targets ranging from DNA repair enzymes to growth factor receptors such as VEGF and PDGF, as well as biomarkers including PSMA. TRC’s utility in prostate cancer is emphasised by an extensive range of citations in research areas such as novel drug targets, biomarker discovery and the development of nanotech drug formulations.

New pharmacological modalities such as PROTACs and radio-pharmaceuticals have created exciting possibilities for addressing old clinical challenges in new ways – giving us the potential to circumvent previously intractable problems such as drug resistance, and push back the boundaries of what is considered an ‘undruggable target’. However, increasing complexity in prostate cancer drug design has created a parallel need for advancements in reference standards to support the discovery and manufacture of these medications - and LGC Standards is proud to have delivered many catalogue and bespoke solutions that support our customers in this work. Our Mikromol brand provides ISO 17025-accredited API, impurity, and excipient reference materials that are used to support the manufacture of prostate cancer hormone therapies such as cyproterone acetate and enzalutamide, as well as commonly used chemotherapies including docetaxel and cabazitaxel.

Despite significant developments in targeted therapies, five-year survival rates for some forms of prostate cancer remain poor, for example, at just 30% for patients with distal metastases. This highlights the urgent need to develop more effective medications and treatment combinations. Therefore LGC would like to say a big ‘Thank You’ to everyone taking part in the Movember initiative, which has raised an astounding £873.9 million to date in support of men’s health causes, with Prostate Cancer UK the main beneficiary.