Dr. Soares on the Standard of Care in Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer

Heloisa P. Soares, MD, PhD, medical oncologist, assistant professor, Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, discusses the standard of care in metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Currently, in the treatment landscape for locally advanced metastatic pancreatic cancer, 2chemotherapy regimens are available, Soares explains. The standard options include FOLFIRINOX and gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane). No study has compared these regimens head-to-head, which makes selecting between them challenging. Moreover, FOLFIRINOX is typically reserved for patients with good ECOG performance status, Soares says.

Ultimately, gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel are favored compared with FOLFIRINOX because the doublet is better tolerated, Soares concludes.