Scientists are currently looking forward to carry out clinical trials of the drug - Asentar (DN-101) which delivers a concentrated dose of the vitamin without running any side-effects of an overdose.
According to BBC reports, the drug would be given to patients in the advanced stages of the disease, along with chemotherapy drugs. Asentar provides levels of vitamin D, 50-100 times higher than normal and patients would be expected to take only one tablet once a week with their weekly regime of taxotere for three out of every four weeks.
Professor Nick James, a cancer expert at the University of Birmingham told BBC that the drug had produced impressive results in preliminary phase two trials as patients who took it lived for an average of an extra nine months.
According to preliminary data, prostate cancer is more prevalent in countries further away from the equator, where there is less exposure to sunlight. Scientists believe that the new drug works by increasing the sensitivity of cancer cells to the effect of other chemotherapy drugs.
However, researchers are still not sure if this drug would revolutionize the cure for prostate. "But the results of the much larger study are needed to fully establish if this treatment is both effective and safe," researchers added.
Prostate cancer is a disease in which cancer develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Although the rates vary widely between countries, it is least common in South and East Asia, more common in Europe, and most common in the United States.
