Opinion
Video
Rana McKay, MD, on the role of radium-223 in the modern era
Author(s):
"Radium-223 continues to have a very significant role for patients with advanced castration-resistant prostate cancer," says Rana R. McKay, MD, FASCO.
Radium-223 was FDA approved for the treatment of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) with bone metastases in 2013. Since then, the treatment landscape for mCRPC has changed significantly.
In the following video, Rana R. McKay, MD, FASCO, shares insight on findings from a systematic literature review of 48 real-world studies assessing radium-223 in mCRPC. These data were presented at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, California.
McKay is a genitourinary medical oncologist at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and a professor of urology and medicine at UCSD School of Medicine.
Overall, data from the analysis showed that overall survival with radium-223 ranged from 9 to 23.5 months. Data on progression-free survival were limited but showed a range between 4.3 to 7.3 months.
According to Dr. McKay, “Radium-223 continues to have a very significant role for patients with advanced castration-resistant prostate cancer.” Moving forward, Dr. McKay points out the need to understand how utilization of radium-223 occurs in the context of other radiopharmaceuticals such as 177Lu-PSMA-617.
