<h3>Purpose/Objective(s)</h3> Bicalutamide, a first-generation androgen receptor antagonist, continues to be selectively used in the management of prostate cancer (PCa) in place of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), often to avoid select ADT-specific side effects. However, none of the major American or European guidelines support the use of bicalutamide monotherapy (BICmono) without ADT for localized disease. Herein, we perform the first, to our knowledge, meta-analysis of randomized trials to assess the efficacy of BICmono in PCa. <h3>Materials/Methods</h3> A pre-specified protocol was registered with PROSPERO. MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane databases were searched for randomized trials testing the use of BICmono in PCa published before January 2022. The prescribed BICmono dose was 150 mg orally daily. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS) with progression-free survival (PFS) as a secondary endpoint. Analyses were stratified into disease states defined by the Early Prostate Cancer (EPC) definition of localized (cT1-2, N0M0) and locally advanced (cT3-4, N0-1, M0). Patients with M1 disease were excluded. Standard of care (SOC) was defined as radical prostatectomy, radiotherapy, or watchful waiting. Comparisons of SOC +/- ADT was performed through an individual patient data meta-analysis in PCa randomized trials (MARCAP) consortium (5336 patients from NRG/RTOG 8610 and 9408, EORTC 22863 and 22991, TROG 9601, and PCS III). SOC +/- BICmono was compared through a study-level meta-analysis (9125 patients from EPC 23, 24, 25, PMH 9907, and NRG/RTOG 9601). SOC+BICmono versus SOC+ADT was compared through a random-effects network meta-analysis. Sensitivity analyses were conducted for the subset of patients who received RT as SOC. <h3>Results</h3> For localized PCa (n=9,897 patients), the addition of ADT to SOC significantly improved OS (HR 0.83, 95%CI 0.72-0.96). Conversely, BICmono did not significantly impact OS compared to SOC alone (HR 1.06, 95%CI 0.89-1.27). Results were similar for the subset of patients treated with radiotherapy as the SOC. Likewise, PFS was significantly improved with the addition of ADT to SOC (HR 0.69, 95%CI 0.61-0.77), but not from the addition of BICmono to SOC (HR 0.89, 95%CI 0.77-1.04). The network meta-analysis demonstrated that SOC+ADT was superior to SOC+BICmono for OS (HR 0.78, 95%CI 0.62-0.98) and PFS (HR 0.77, 95%CI 0.63-0.93). Similar trends were observed in locally advanced disease (n=4284 patients). <h3>Conclusion</h3> This study presents strong evidence for the superiority of ADT over BICmono for men with PCa. Furthermore, there was no improvement in outcomes from the use of BICmono compared to SOC alone without the use ADT in localized PCa. Thus, based on current randomized evidence, BICmono does not appear to have clinically meaningful activity in localized disease and SOC alone should be recommended if a patient declines ADT.
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