Testing the Use of High Dose Testosterone Followed by Darolutamide Compared to the Usual Care for Patients With Metastatic Prostate Cancer

This phase II/II trial compares the effect of high dose testosterone followed by darolutamide with the usual care in treating patients with prostate cancer that has spread from where it first started (primary site) to other places in the body (metastatic) and keeps growing even when the amount of testosterone in the body is reduced to very low levels (castration-resistant). Usual care treatment for patients with metastatic prostate cancer includes surgery or medical castration which involves drugs to suppress the function of the testes. After receiving this therapy, a period of disease stability occurs, followed typically by cancer regrowth and castration-resistant disease. Castration-resistant prostate cancer occurs because the tumor cells are eventually able to adapt to the very low levels of testosterone in the body. A new type of therapy called Bipolar Androgen Therapy (BAT) involves giving patients very high doses of testosterone every 28 days. This results in a cycle of higher than normal testosterone levels (i.e., "supraphysiologic") to near castrate levels over the 28 days. BAT may be able to stop prostate tumor cells from becoming castrate-resistant. In this trial, patients who receive BAT with high dose testosterone and experience disease progression then receive darolutamide. Darolutamide is in a class of medications called androgen receptor inhibitors. It works by blocking the effects of androgen (a male reproductive hormone) to stop the growth and spread of tumor cells. Adding BAT with high dose testosterone prior to darolutamide after disease progression may help shrink or stabilize metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer better than usual treatments alone.