Combination Chemotherapy With or Without Metformin Hydrochloride in Treating Patients With Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer

• Status: Terminated
• Trial end date: 2015-04-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving more than one drug (combination chemotherapy) may kill more tumor cells. Metformin hydrochloride may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. It is not yet known if combination chemotherapy is more effective with or without metformin hydrochloride in treating patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.

PURPOSE: This randomized phase II trial is studying giving cisplatin, epirubicin hydrochloride, capecitabine, and gemcitabine hydrochloride together with metformin hydrochloride to see how well it works compared to cisplatin, epirubicin hydrochloride, capecitabine, and gemcitabine hydrochloride alone in treating patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.

• Phase: Phase 2
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: IRCCS San Raffaele
• Treatments: Capecitabine; Cisplatin; Epirubicin; Gemcitabine; Metformin

Criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically or cytologically confirmed pancreatic adenocarcinoma

• Metastatic (stage IV) disease

• Measurable disease

• No symptomatic brain metastases

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• Karnofsky performance status 60-100%

• Not pregnant or nursing

• Adequate bone marrow, liver and kidney function

• No previous or concurrent malignancies at other sites except for surgically cured carcinoma in-situ of the cervix, basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, or other neoplasms without evidence of disease within the past 5 years

• No multiple severe diseases which would compromise safety (i.e., cardiac failure, previous myocardial infarction within the past 4 months, cardiac arrhythmia, or history of psychiatric disabilities)

• No alcohol abuse

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• No prior chemotherapy or metformin

• No other concurrent experimental drugs