Recent Development and Future Prospects of Molecular Targeted Therapy in Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer (PC) is a rapidly increasing ailment worldwide. The previous decade has observed a rapid advancement in PC therapies that was evident from the number of FDA approvals during this phase. Androgen deprivation therapies (ADT) have traditionally remained a mainstay for the management of PCs, but the past decade has experienced the emergence of newer classes of drugs that can be used with or without the administration of ADT. FDA approved poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPi) such as olaparib and rucaparib after successful clinical trials against gene-mutated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Furthermore, drugs like apalutamide, darolutamide and enzalutamide with androgen-targeted mechanism of action have manifested superior results in non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (nmCRPC), metastatic castration- sensitive prostate cancer (mCSPC), and metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (m- CRPC) respectively with or without previously administered docetaxel. Relugolix, an oral gonadotropin- releasing hormone antagonist and a combination of abiraterone acetate plus prednisone were also approved by FDA after a successful trial in advanced PC and mCRPC respectively. This review aims to analyze the FDA-approved agents in PC during last decade and provide a summary of their clinical trials. It also presents an overview of the ongoing progress of prospective molecules still under trial.