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Drug development for advanced prostate cancer has had a tough year, given the premature closure of the phase III ASCENT II trial of docetaxel with or without calcitriol and the failure of the phase III SPARC study to demonstrate an overall survival benefit for satraplatin in patients treated with either docetaxel or mitoxantrone. In light of the current regulatory environment mandating that new therapies demonstrate survival benefit, and given the myriad problems confounding the utility of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level as a disease surrogate, the need to validate a surrogate marker in advanced prostate cancer is urgent. One approach that provides prognostic utility in patients with metastatic breast cancers or colon cancers is asses…