The recently approved prostate cancer pill Zytiga is offering new hope for men with advanced disease.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows men who took the drug and who already underwent chemotherapy lived four months longer than those who took a placebo, WebMD.com reports.

The research involved 1,195 men with spreading prostate cancer that had progressed after chemotherapy. Those men who received steroid therapy along with the new pill survived for an average of 14.8 months, compared with 10.9 months for those who received a placebo and steroids. The results showed a 34 percent reduction in risk of dying.

Men taking the placebo were allowed to switch to Zytiga, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in April, before the study was completed because the survival extension was considered so significant.

This survival gain "means quite a bit," study researcher Dr. Howard I. Scher, chief of the genitourinary oncology service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, tells WebMD.com. "These are a group of patients for whom there is no standard of care and it is particularly gratifying to see these results, to say the least."

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