Sanofi-Aventis' experimental chemotherapy drug Jevtana gave a 30 per cent boost to the survival rate of men with prostate cancer whose tumors no longer respond to standard treatment.

Prospects of the drug are bright and the drug might be able to offset the French drugmaker's loss of patent protection on its existing blockbuster cancer medicine Taxotere later this year following these results based on an international Phase III clinical trial.

Study leader Oliver Sartor of Tulane Cancer Center in New Orleans said, "The unequivocal survival benefit gave hope to men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer whose disease continues to grow despite standard chemotherapy. This agent will provide an important new therapeutic option for men with this advanced form of prostate cancer."

Patients who were administered Jevtana and the older drug prednisone during the trial lived a median of 15.1 months as compared to patients who lived 12.7 months after taking mitoxantrone and prednisone.

There were certain experiences like fever with declines in white blood cell counts in 7.5 per cent of men who were on Jevtana as compared to only 1.3 per cent of those who took mitoxantrone.

Sanofi had already announced that goals were met by Jevtana, or cabazitaxel, in the 755-patient trial.