Dr. Fine on GTX in Inoperable Pancreatic Cancer

Robert L. Fine, MD, an associate professor of Medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia University Medical Center, discusses a phase II study that evaluated the efficacy of neoadjuvant gemcitabine, docetaxel, and capecitabine (GTX) in patients with inoperable pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

The GTX regimen, a combination of low-dose gemcitabine, docetaxel, and capecitabine, is synergistic and induces apoptosis in pancreatic cancer, Fine says. GTX is a much less toxic regimen compared to FOLFIRINOX, though it produces similar outcomes. However, GTX is still not accepted as an alternative to FOLFIRINOX.

In the phase II study, GTX has a response rate and a stable disease rate of 38% , a clinical benefit rate of 76%, a progression-free survival of 6.9 months, and an overall survival of 14.7 months. Fine says the overall survival that was produced by GTX in this study is the longest reported by any institution for pancreatic cancer.