[¹⁷⁷Lu]-PSMA-617-PSMA-617 in oligometastatic hormone sensitive prostate cancer (BULLSEYE): an open-label, randomised,...

[¹⁷⁷Lu]Lu-prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-617 (¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA-617) is a novel treatment for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Here, we aimed to evaluate ¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA-617 in patients with PSMA-expressing oligometastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (HSPC).

BULLSEYE was an open-label, randomised, phase 2 trial in three academic hospitals in the Netherlands (Radboud University Medical Center, University Medical Center Groningen, and University Medical Center Amsterdam) and one community hospital in Cyprus (German Oncology Center). Eligible participants were men, aged 18 years or older, with biochemically recurrent prostate cancer following radical prostatectomy or radiotherapy, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status score of 0-1, a PSA doubling time of less than 6 months and PSA amounts of over 1·0 μg/L. Paients aged 18 years or older with recurrent hormone sensitive prostate cancer following radical surgery or radiotherapy were randomly asigned (1:1) using a centralised web-based system with block randomisation to ¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA-617 (intervention) or standard of care (control) of deferred androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). The treatment group received two cycles of 7·4 GBq ¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA-617 every 6 weeks. 6 weeks after the second treatment cycle, patients with residual PSMA-expressing disease on PSMA-PET-CT, and no grade 3 or worse treatment-related adverse events received two additional cycles of 7·4 GBq ¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA-617 given 6 weeks apart.The control group did not receive treatment but underwent active monitoring for disease progression. Co-primary endpoints were the proportion of patients with disease progression, and time to disease progression with the same endpoint. Primary, secondary, and safety endpoints were assessed in the per-protocol population, who all received at least one 1 dose of 177Lu-PSMA-617. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04443062) and has completed accrual.

Between April 20, 2020, and July 29, 2024, 78 males were screened and 58 were eligible (29 intervention and 29 control). 56 patients were white, one was Asian, and one was African. Patients in the intervention group received a median of four cycles (IQR 4-4) of ¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA-617. At data cutoff (March 31, 2025), median follow-up time was 27 months (IQR 18-32). During the first 30 weeks, disease progression was reported in two (7%) of 29 patients in the intervention group versus 27 (93%) of 29 patients in the control group (p<0·0001). Median progression-free survival (per-protocol) was 25 months (IQR 15 to not reached) for intervention group versus 5 months (IQR 3-7) for control (hazard ratio [HR] 0·07, 95% CI 0·03-0·17; p<0·0001). One (3%) patient in the intervention group developed grade 3 dry eyes, which resolved with supportive treatment, and grade 3 lymphocyte count decrease was observed in three (10%) patients in the treatment group. The control group had five (17%) patients with grade 3 hypertension, one (3%) patient with a grade 3 decrease in lymphocyte count, one (3%) patient with a grade 4 gallbladder infection, and one (3%) patient with a grade 4 myocardial infarction. There were no treatment-related grade 4 adverse events or deaths. No serious adverse events were reported in patients who received ¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA-617. The most common adverse events were grade 1 dry mouth in 19 (66%) patients in the treatment group versus three (10%) patients in the control group, fatigue in 16 (55%) patients in the treatment group versus six (21%) patients in the control group, and nausea in 14 (48%) patients in the treatment group versus three (10%) patients in the control group. No deaths were attributed to the treatment in either group.

¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA-617 showed promising response rates and delayed disease progression in patients with oligometastatic HSPC in this trial. In addition, most treatment-related adverse events were low grade.

Dutch Prostate Cancer Foundation (Prostaatkankerstichting) and Novartis.