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Little progress has been made in the treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer. Numerous phase III trials of gemcitabine combination therapy have failed to improve survival compared to gemcitabine alone. FOLFIRINOX (oxaliplatin, irinotecan, fluorouracil, and leucovorin) chemotherapy did improve survival compared with gemcitabine in a recent phase III trial (NEJM JW Oncol Hematol May 11 2011), but toxicity limits its application to high-function patients.
Investigators now report results of an industry-sponsored, international, multicenter, randomized phase III trial (MPACT) of nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine in 861 patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. Patients were randomized to gemcitabine (1000 mg/m2 weekly) for 7 of 8 weeks followe…