Nitrocamptothecin Compared With Gemcitabine in Treating Patients With Unresectable Locally Advanced or Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer

• Status: Unknown status
• Trial end date: 1969-12-31
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. It is not yet known whether nitrocamptothecin is more effective than gemcitabine for pancreatic cancer.

PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of nitrocamptothecin with gemcitabine in treating patients who have unresectable locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer.

• Phase: Phase 3
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Astex Pharmaceuticals; Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
• Treatments: Gemcitabine; Rubitecan

Criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: Histologically or cytologically confirmed unresectable locally advanced (stage II or III) or metastatic (stage IV) adenocarcinoma of the pancreas

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Age: Over 18 Performance status: Karnofsky 50-100% Life expectancy: Not specified Hematopoietic: Granulocyte count greater than 1,500/mm3 Hemoglobin at least 9 g/dL Platelet count greater than 100,000/mm3 Hepatic: SGOT and SGPT no greater than 3 times normal (5 times normal if liver tumor present) Bilirubin no greater than 2.0 mg/dL Renal: Creatinine no greater than 2.0 mg/dL Other: Not pregnant or nursing Negative pregnancy test Fertile patients must use effective contraception

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: Biologic therapy: At least 3 weeks since prior immunotherapy and recovered No filgrastim (G-CSF) concurrent with nitrocamptothecin Concurrent epoetin alfa allowed Chemotherapy: Prior fluorouracil as radiosensitizer allowed No other prior chemotherapy (e.g., nitrocamptothecin or gemcitabine) No other concurrent chemotherapy Endocrine therapy: No concurrent hormonal or corticosteroid therapy Patients requiring hormonal therapy or corticosteroid therapy for medical reasons may remain on study, but will not be evaluable for clinical benefit response Radiotherapy: At least 3 weeks since prior radiotherapy and recovered No concurrent radiotherapy Surgery: See Disease Characteristics More than 2 weeks since prior major surgery and recovered Prior stent placement allowed No planned surgery within 8 weeks after initiation of treatment