Satraplatin in the treatment of hormone-refractory metastatic prostate cancer

Satraplatin is an orally bioavailable platinum chemotherapeutic agent under development for several cancer types, including hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC). Satraplatin is being developed for the treatment of men with chemorefractory HRPC for several reasons: 1) relative ease of administration, 2) potential lack of cross-resistance with other platinum agents, 3) clinical benefits seen in early studies of HRPC, and 4) an unmet need in this patient population after docetaxel failure. As men who have progressed after docetaxel and prednisone have an expected median survival of approximately 12 months, there is great opportunity for improved palliation in this disease. Satraplatin may provide a palliative benefit for these men in terms of progression-free survival according to the most recent analyses of the phase III SPARC trial comparing satraplatin and prednisone to prednisone alone in the second-line setting for HRPC, and is currently under USFDA review for this indication. Whether satraplatin and prednisone offer an advantage over docetaxel retreatment or other cytotoxic agents in this setting is an unanswered question and worthy of study. Investigation of predictors of platinum sensitivity and the use of satraplatin in patients with neuroendocrine subsets of metastatic prostate cancer may be warranted given the advances in biomarker and genomic technology and the known sensitivity of small cell cancers to platinum agents. Further study of satraplatin alone or in combination with docetaxel or other molecular and chemotherapeutic agents seems warranted to improve on current outcomes.