Active clinical trials for "Pancreatic Neoplasms"

This study will compare the efficacy and safety of escalating versus standard doses to rash of Tarceva, in combination with gemcitabine, in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. During a 4 week run-in period, all patients will receive Tarceva 100mg/day po plus gemcitabine 1000mg/m2 iv on days 1, 8,15 and 22. After 4 weeks, patients who have not developed rash, or only develop grade 1 rash, will be randomized to one of 2 groups. Group 1 will receive a starting dose of Tarceva 150mg po daily, increased in steps of 50mg every 2 weeks up to a maximum of 250mg/day po, until development of grade 2 rash or other dose-limiting toxicity. Group 2 will continue to receive Tarceva 100mg/day po. All patients will continue to receive gemcitabine 1000mg/m2 iv on days 1, 8 and 15 of each 4 week cycle. The anticipated time on study treatment is until disease progression, and the target sample size is 100-500 individuals.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as irinotecan, fluorouracil, and leucovorin, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving more than one drug (combination chemotherapy) may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: This phase I trial is studying the side effects and best dose of irinotecan when given together with fluorouracil and leucovorin in treating patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer.

RATIONALE: Vaccines made from gene-modified tumor cells may help the body build an immune response to kill tumor cells. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as cyclophosphamide, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Monoclonal antibodies, such as cetuximab, can block tumor growth in different ways. Some block the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Others find tumor cells and help kill them or carry tumor-killing substances to them. Cetuximab may also stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. Giving vaccine therapy together with cyclophosphamide and cetuximab may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well vaccine therapy works when given together with cyclophosphamide and cetuximab in treating patients with metastatic or locally advanced pancreatic cancer.

To seek preliminary evidence of antitumor activity (progression free survival) of Erlotinib in combination with standard adjuvant chemoradiation and chemotherapy in patients with resected adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.

The purpose of this study is to establish the safest doses of an investigational drug called MORAb-009 in subjects with pancreatic cancer, mesothelioma, or certain types of ovarian or lung cancer. MORAb-009 is a monoclonal antibody that is directed to an antigen on the surface of these cancers.

This is a clinical trial to determine more effective methods of controlling the pain in pancreatic cancer. Although narcotic pain medication are effective, they have many side effects and are underutilized due to social stigma and fear of addiction. Celiac plexus neurolysis is a nerve block procedure that has been shown to be effective in uncontrolled clinical trials. We hypothesized that celiac plexus neurolysis plus pain medication will be more effective and have fewer side effects than pain medication alone. We are evaluating the effectiveness of this standard pain medications with or without celiac plexus neurolysis in a randomized controlled trial. One half of the participants will receive pain medications only and the other half will receive pain medications plus neurolysis, delivered via an endoscopic ultrasound device placed in the stomach.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as capecitabine, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well capecitabine works as second-line therapy in treating patients with stage IV pancreatic cancer who have the thymidylate synthase gene.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as capecitabine and docetaxel, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving more than one drug (combination chemotherapy) may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving capecitabine together with docetaxel works in treating patients with recurrent or progressive metastatic pancreatic cancer.

RATIONALE: Stop-smoking plans, including counseling and nicotine replacement therapy, may help smokers quit smoking. It is not yet known whether counseling and the nicotine lozenge is more effective than counseling and the nicotine patch in helping adult smokers quit smoking. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying counseling and the nicotine lozenge to see how well they work compared to counseling and the nicotine patch in helping smokers quit smoking.

The intention of this trial is to evaluate safety and efficacy of a combination treatment of EndoTAG-1 with Gemcitabine versus Gemcitabine monotherapy.