Radium-223 Therapy of Bone Metastases in Prostate Cancer

Metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer frequently metastasizes to the bone, often resulting in painful skeletal events, reduced quality of life, and reduced survival. Radium-223 is a first-in-class alpha-emitting radiopharmaceutical that has proven to prolong overall survival, delay time to symptomatic skeletal events, and improve quality of life in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer and symptomatic bone metastases and no visceral metastases. Radium-223 provides survival benefit to patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer and symptomatic bone metastases, regardless of prior docetaxel use. This article gives an overview of the development of radium-223 from the first-in-human trial to current status.