It's been employed for weight loss, flu vaccination, glaucoma treatment, diabetes management, prenatal care and several other health conditions and services. Now, text messaging is getting a tryout for men with advanced prostate cancer.

Mobile software developer Mobile Commons, pharmaceutical company Sanofi US and the Prostate Cancer Foundation on Tuesday announced the creation of Prost8Care, an SMS system to help prostate cancer patients and their families understand treatment processes.

"Through Prost8Care, we are helping those coping with advanced stages of the disease through text messages timed to coincide with their chemotherapy treatment cycles," Prostate Cancer Foundation Chief Scientific Officer Howard Soule says in a press release.

Patients will enroll via their doctors. The program will send printed informational and enrollment material to physician offices. Once patients are signed up, they should start receiving text messages, with tips on eating properly and coping with chemotherapy side effects, timed to each man's treatment cycle, the companies say.

"The goal of Prost8Care is to encourage patients and educate them, and facilitate productive conversations with their physicians throughout the course of their treatment. And because 95 percent of Americans with chronic diseases have access to texting, this may be an effective way to reach these patients," Mobile Commons CEO Jed Alpert says.

Prost8Care is a one-way messaging program, so participants will not be asked to respond to the texts. There is no cost other than carrier messaging charges.