Increased Survival in Pancreatic Cancer with nab-Paclitaxel plus Gemcitabine

Daniel D. Von Hoff, M.D., Thomas Ervin, M.D., Francis P. Arena, M.D., E. Gabriela Chiorean, M.D., Jeffrey Infante, M.D., Malcolm Moore, M.D., Thomas Seay, M.D., Sergei A. Tjulandin, M.D., Wen Wee Ma, M.D., Mansoor N. Saleh, M.D., Marion Harris, M.D., Michele Reni, M.D., Scot Dowden, M.D., Daniel Laheru, M.D., Nathan Bahary, M.D., Ramesh K. Ramanathan, M.D., Josep Tabernero, M.D., Manuel Hidalgo, M.D., Ph.D., David Goldstein, M.D., Eric Van Cutsem, M.D., Xinyu Wei, Ph.D., Jose Iglesias, M.D., and Markus F. Renschler, M.D.

October 16, 2013DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1304369

Abstract
Article
References: Background
In a phase 1–2 trial of albumin-bound paclitaxel (nab-paclitaxel) plus gemcitabine, substantial clinical activity was noted in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. We conducted a phase 3 study of the efficacy and safety of the combination versus gemcitabine monotherapy in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.
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Methods
We randomly assigned patients with a Karnofsky performance-status score of 70 or more (on a scale from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better performance status) to nab-paclitaxel (125 mg per square meter of body-surface area) followed by gemcitabine (1000 mg per square meter) on days 1, 8, and 15 every 4 weeks or gemcitabine monotherapy (1000 mg per square meter) weekly for 7 of 8 weeks (cycle 1) and then on days 1, 8, and 15 every 4 weeks (cycle 2 and subsequent cycles). Patients received the study treatment until disease progression. The primary end point was overall survival; secondary end points were progression-free survival and overall response rate.
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Results
A total of 861 patients were randomly assigned to nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine (431 patients) or gemcitabine (430). The median overall survival was 8.5 months in the nab-paclitaxel–gemcitabine group as compared with 6.7 months in the gemcitabine group (hazard ratio for death, 0.72; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.62 to 0.83; P<0 .001="" 0.58="" 0.69="" 0.82="" 1="" 22="" 23="" 27="" 29="" 2="" 3.7="" 35="" 3="" 4="" 5.5="" 7="" 95="" 9="" a="" according="" adverse="" and="" as="" at="" ci="" common="" compared="" days.="" death="" disease="" events="" fatigue="" febrile="" for="" gemcitabine="" grade="" group="" groups.="" groups="" hazard="" higher="" improved="" in="" independent="" lower="" median="" months="" most="" nab-paclitaxel="" neuropathy="" neutropenia="" occurred="" of="" or="" p="" patients="" progression-free="" progression="" rate="" ratio="" response="" review="" survival="" the="" to="" two="" versus="" vs.="" was="" were="" with="" year="" years.="">
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Conclusions
In patients with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma, nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine significantly improved overall survival, progression-free survival, and response rate, but rates of peripheral neuropathy and myelosuppression were increased. (Funded by Celgene; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00844649.)
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