Do patients with prostate cancer need long-term medication when using talazoparib (Tazena)?

Talazoparib is a PARP inhibitor. It is mainly used in patients with DNA repair gene defects (such as BRCA1, BRCA2 and other homologous recombination repair-related gene mutations) in prostate cancer. For these patients, the mechanism of action of talazoparib is not short-term killing, but rather, it gradually induces tumor cell apoptosis by continuously inhibiting the DNA repair ability of tumor cells. Therefore, from the perspective of treatment principle, this drug is usually not a "short course of treatment", but a continuous treatment drug with the goal of disease control.

In clinical practice, whether talazoparib requires long-term medication mainly depends on the patient's therapeutic response and tolerance. If the patient's tumor indicators decline after taking the drug, imaging shows that the lesions are stable or shrinking, and the adverse reactions are controllable, it is usually recommended to continue taking the drug until the disease progresses or unacceptable toxicity occurs. This "continue until progression" strategy is common in the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, with the goal of prolonging progression-free survival as much as possible.

But not all patients must take talazoparib indefinitely. Some patients may experience significant adverse reactions such as anemia, thrombocytopenia, or fatigue during treatment, and the regimen needs to be adjusted through dose reduction, temporary drug discontinuation, or supportive treatment. If you are still unable to tolerate it after adjustments, your doctor may consider switching to other treatments. In addition, if the efficacy is unsatisfactory and the tumor continues to progress, even if no serious side effects occur, long-term use is usually no longer recommended.

Generally speaking, the use of talazoparidol by prostate cancer patients is a medium- to long-term or even long-term medication pattern, but it is not a "lifelong fixed medication". Whether to continue taking it requires a comprehensive judgment based on the type of genetic mutation, disease stage, efficacy evaluation results, and individual tolerance. During treatment, patients should regularly review blood routine and imaging examinations, and dynamically adjust medication strategies under the guidance of specialists to achieve the best balance between efficacy and safety.

Keyword tags: talazoparib, PARP inhibitor, prostate cancer, BRCA mutation, long-term medication, efficacy monitoring

Reference materials:https://go.drugbank.com/drugs/DB11760