Hormone refractory prostate cancer is when the prostate cancer cells continue to grow after an initial period of success with hormonal therapy. Most prostate cancers are hormone dependent and require male sex hormones to grow, usually over time the prostate cancer cells develop the ability to grow in the absence of the male hormones.

In this randomized Phase III trial, men with hormone refractory prostate cancer that has metastasized will receive standard chemotherapy with the drugs docetaxel and prednisone. Half of the participants will be randomly assigned to additionally receive treatment with a monoclonal antibody called bevacizumab (Avastin).

Avastin works by stopping some cancers from developing new blood vessels. This reduces the cancer’s supply of oxygen and nutrients, which causes the tumor to shrink, or at least to stop growing. Drugs that interfere with blood vessel growth in this way are called angiogenesis inhibitors or anti-angiogenics.

This Phase III trial will answer the question of whether adding bevacizaumab to docetaxal and prednisone actually does improve survival over the current standard of care.