Abiraterone or Enzalutamide for Patients With Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer

Importance Abiraterone acetate and enzalutamide are recommended as preferred treatments for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), but differences in their relative efficacy are unclear due to a lack of head-to-head clinical trials. Clear guidance is needed for making informed mCRPC therapeutic choices. Objective To compare clinical outcomes in patients with mCRPC treated with abiraterone acetate or enzalutamide. Design, Setting, and Participants This retrospective, multicenter cohort study included patients with mCRPC in the US Department of Veterans Affairs health care system who initiated treatment with abiraterone acetate or enzalutamide between January 1, 2014, and October 30, 2022. Exposures Abiraterone acetate or enzalutamide. Main Outcomes and Measures The study used inverse probability of treatment weighting to balance baseline characteristics between patients initiating abiraterone acetate or enzalutamide and evaluated restricted mean survival time (RMST) differences in overall survival (OS), prostate cancer–specific survival (PCS), time to next treatment switching or death (TTS), and time to prostate-specific antigen (PSA) response (TTR) at different time points after treatment initiation. Results The study included 5779 patients (median age, 74.42 years IQR, 68.94-82.14 years). Median follow-up was between 38 and 60 months. Patients initiating enzalutamide on average had longer OS than those initiating abiraterone acetate, with RMSTs of 24.29 months (95% CI, 23.58-24.99 months) and 23.38 months (95% CI, 22.85-23.92 months), respectively, and a difference in RMST of 0.90 months (95% CI, 0.02-1.79 months) at 4 years. Similarly, TTS and TTR were improved in patients initiating enzalutamide, with an RMST at 4 years of 1.95 months (95% CI, 0.92-2.99 months) longer for TTS and 3.57 months (95% CI, 1.76-5.38 months) shorter for TTR. For PCS, the RMST at 2 years was 0.48 months (95% CI, 0.01-0.95 months) longer. An examination of subgroups identified that enzalutamide initiation was associated with longer RMST in OS among patients without prior docetaxel treatment (1.14 months; 95% CI, 0.19-2.10 months) and in those with PSA doubling time of 3 months or longer (2.23 months; 95% CI, 0.81-3.66 months) but not among patients with prior docetaxel (−0.25 months; 95% CI, −2.59 to 2.09 months) or with PSA doubling time of less than 3 months (0.05 months; 95% CI, −1.05 to 1.15 months). Conclusions and Relevance In this cohort study of patients with mCRPC, initiation of enzalutamide was associated with small but statistically significant improvements in OS, PCS, TTS, and TTR compared with initiation of abiraterone acetate. The improvements were more prominent in short-term outcomes, including TTS and TTR, and in patient subgroups without prior docetaxel or with PSA doubling time longer than 3 months.