New combo boosts gall bladder cancer survival 28%

Combining two chemotherapy drugs for advanced gall bladder and bile duct cancer improves survival by a third, according to results from a  Cancer Research UK-funded trial presented at the American Society of  Clinical Oncology conference.

The study, which was the largest ever Phase III evaluation for these  cancers, found that for patients receiving both gemcitabine and  cisplatin it reduced the chance of the cancer growing by 28%. Patients  given this combination lived longer, on average 11.7 months compared to  8.3 months for those on gemcitabine alone.

The ABC02 trial recruited over 400 UK patients with advanced gall  bladder and bile duct cancer which can not be operated on. One group had  a combination of gemcitabine and cisplatin and the second arm was  treated with gemcitabine alone. The treatment lasted for 24 weeks for  both groups of patients.