New drug substantially extends survival in pancreatic cancer

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A new form of chemotherapy that destroys new blood vessels that grow around tumors has produced excellent results in a phase II trial of patients with inoperable pancreas cancer, scientists report at the 33rd Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) in Stockholm.

European researchers led by Prof. Matthias Lhr from the Karolinska Institute reviewed the efficacy and safety of three different doses of cationic lipid complexed paclitaxel (EndoTAG-1) administered twice weekly, in combination with weekly infusions of gemcitabine, in comparison to gemcitabine alone, in 200 patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

"EndoTAG consists of charged particles that bind preferentially to the fast-growing endothelial cells in new blood vessels being formed by tumors," Prof. Lhr explained. "The drug, paclitaxel, is then released and thus directly reaches an important target in tumors, i.e. the vessels. Paclitaxel itself is not very efficient in pancreratic cancer".

After following patients for a year, the scientists observed that therapy with such combination led to a substantially extended median survival time in comparison to standard treatment. Patients given gemcitabine alone survived on average 7.2 months, in comparison to up to 13.6 months for patients who received repeated doses of the combination (EndoTAG plus gemcitabine).

"These results are the best I have ever seen in palliative therapy in pancreas cancer," Prof. Lhr said. "The results are really excellent and a phase III study is in the making".


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