GlaxoSmithKline has announced new results from a large study that demonstrate combination treatment with Avodart (dutasteride) and the alpha blocker, tamsulosin, provides significantly greater urinary symptom improvement for men with enlarged prostate than either Avodart or tamsulosin monotherapy over 24 months. Three analyses from the study combination therapy with Avodart and tamsulosin (CombAT) were presented at the 29th annual meeting of the Société Internationale d'Urologie in Paris.

In addition, one of the CombAT analyses, which were conducted post-hoc, showed that Avodart provides a pattern of increasing enlarged prostate symptom improvement over 24 months. Tamsulosin the most commonly prescribed medicine for the condition showed a plateau in symptom improvement1 from month three through 24. Common symptoms of enlarged prostate include frequent urge to urinate or difficulty emptying the bladder.

The CombAT study includes 4,800 men (combination therapy, n=1492; Avodart, n=1502; tamsulosin, n=1519) with moderate-to-severe enlarged prostate symptoms. All study participants received placebo for four weeks and then were randomized to receive Avodart and tamsulosin combination therapy, Avodart monotherapy or tamsulosin monotherapy.

Enlarged prostate, also known as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), is a condition that affects 50 per cent of men over the age of 50 and more than 90 per cent of men over age 80.3 Avodart belongs to a class of medicines known as 5 alpha reductase inhibitors (5 ARIs), which shrink the prostate over time. Tamsulosin is an alpha blocker, a class of medicines that relaxes muscles in the bladder and prostate.

"This trial suggests that physicians should consider combining Avodart and tamsulosin as initial therapy to achieve improved symptom relief for men with enlarged prostate," said Professor Claus Roehrborn, from the Universityof Texas, who presented the new data. "This study provides important new data to guide medical therapy for men with symptomatic BPH."