Eating a low-fat meal when taking an expensive prostate cancer drug can cut the cost of the drug by three-quarters, a new study indicates. (emphasis added)

“We know this drug [Zytiga] is absorbed much more efficiently when taken with food,” said study author Dr. Russell Szmulewitz, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago.

“It’s inefficient, even wasteful, to take this medicine while fasting, which is how the drug’s label says to take it,” he noted in a university news release.

But, Szmulewitz cautioned that patients shouldn’t start experimenting with drug doses on their own.

“This was a relatively small study, too small to show with confidence that the lower dose is as effective. It gives us preliminary, but far from definitive, evidence. Physicians should use their discretion, based on patient needs,” he advised.

Zytiga (abiraterone acetate) costs more than $9,000 a month and patients typically remain on the drug for 12 to 18 months, researchers said. Even patients with the best health insurance can have co-pays of $1,000 to $3,000 a month.

This study found similar outcomes between 36 advanced prostate cancer patients who took 250 […]