Dr Johann de Bono speaks to ecancer.tv about PARP inhibitors, the benefits that these drugs have shown and what still needs to be done before they can be approved. Dr de Bono suggests how modifying the way patients are selected could speed up drug approval and discusses what challenges must be overcome when developing drugs with novel mechanisms of action. Dr de Bono talks about advances that have been made in the treatment of prostate cancer and discusses abiraterone acetate, a new drug which targets the CYP17 enzyme, is highly active and has been shown to increase patient survival rates.