Cardiovascular, diabetes risk associated with prostate cancer drug class

SILVER SPRING, Md. Patients taking a certain class of drugs mostly used for prostate cancer may be at higher risk of heart disease and diabetes, the Food and Drug Administration warned on Wednesday.

The FDA said it would require manufacturers to add new warnings to gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists. GnRH agonists suppress the production of testosterone and are used in androgen-deprivation therapy in men with prostate cancer. Some of the drugs also are used to treat women with endometriosis and children with precocious puberty. GnRH agonists include Abbott’s Lupron (leuprolide acetate), Sanofi-Aventis’ Eligard (leuprolide acetate), Watson Pharmaceuticals’ Trelstar (triptorelin pamoate) and several other branded and generic drugs.

The agency said in May that analyses had found that patients taking GnRH agonists had a small increased risk for diabetes, heart attack, stroke and sudden death.