Drug development for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer: current status and future perspectives.

Prostate cancer represents a third of all newly diagnosed cancers in men in the USA with an estimated incidence of 192,280 cases and 27,360 deaths in 2009. It continues to be a major cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality, and there is an urgent need for new treatments. Historically, systemic therapy options were limited after progression on docetaxel-based chemotherapy. This article reviews current data on the novel therapeutics demonstrating activity in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and their future role in the treatment of this disease with a poor prognosis.