I have decided to wait for the time being.
On July 7 I posted, in part,
"I hesitate to jump in [start abi] because
1) most seem to prefer enzalutamide over abiraterone, and I assume I will become metastatic at some point and insurance will cover it.
2) the deeper I get into ADT now, the less likely I will qualify for clinical trials for apalutamide, darolutamide, and other stuff that some thinks holds great promise.
My doc is generally for this move. [He ran the local branch of a trial matching firmagon, firmagon+abiraterone, and abiraterone arms for ADT naïve patients, but those results are not yet available.]"
Tall Allen (the ultimate and frighteningly reliable source) responded to my post:
"You are having a really excellent response to Firmagon. The STAMPEDE trial included some men who were not metastatic and a few with recurrent PC. Abiraterone did not increase overall survival in either of those groups. It did extend failure-free survival, however. The other thing worth thinking about
is the added toxicity: Grade 3-5 adverse events went up from 33% to 47% when abiraterone was added. I think both points you make are very valid considerations."
As for cost, under most Plan Ds the cost is roughly $8K, with most of that coming during the doughnut hole. Check the cost at under your plan
/www.medicare.gov/find-a-plan/questions/home.aspxHelp is available in various forms from various sources.