safety and exploratory efficacy of kanglaite injection in pancreatic cancer

Conditions: Pancreatic Cancer

Summary: gemcitabine is usually used to treat cancer of the pancreas. the purpose of this study is to determine if kanglaite injection (klt) is safe in patients with cancer of the pancreas, and whether it improves the effectiveness of gemcitabine. additionally, the effect, if any, of klt on the signs and symptoms of cancer as well as the common side effects of chemotherapy will be evaluated. the research drug, klt, is purified from a traditional chinese medicine called coix seed. it is approved in china for use in combination with chemotherapy to treat patients with advanced lung cancer and liver cancer. it is also approved in china for use by itself to treat the symptoms of cancer in patients with advanced cancer of any kind. in the us, klt is purely experimental and is not approved for any use. while a small number of cancer patients in the us have received klt alone in a phase i study, this is the first us protocol to evaluate whether or not klt is useful in pancreatic cancer. this phase ii clinical study was completed in the us in june 2014. the clinical study report was submitted to the fda in january 2015. the designs of the phase iii clinical study for klt has been cleared by the fda in may 2015 and will be launched soon.


Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: * must have a life expectancy of at least 84 days (12 weeks) * must be ambulatory and have either a karnofsky performance status of 60 or higher or ecog performance status of 0, 1 or 2 * must have histologically confirmed pancreatic cancer, either locally invasive or metastatic, and not amenable to potentially curative resection * must have measurable or evaluable target lesions, by recist 1.1 criteria * must not have previously received chemotherapy for metastatic disease * if female, must have negative pregnancy test, be at least one year post menopausal, or have undergone surgical sterilization and must be willing to use appropriate birth control measures unless post menopausal or post surgical sterilization * must be judged by the investigator to have the initiative and means to be compliant with the protocol including the return for follow-up visits on schedule * must give written informed consent prior to any testing under this protocol * must have hemoglobin \> 9 gm/dl, wbc\>2 x109/ml, and platelets \>100,000/ul * must have alkaline phosphatase \< 2.5 x uln, alt \< 2.0 x uln, ast\< 2.0 x uln and bilirubin \< 2.0 * must have stable renal function appropriate for age. a patient must have a serum creatinine of \ 60 ml/minute * must have a central venous catheter if randomized to the g + k arm of study, or if the patient does not have one, must agree to have one placed if randomized to the g+k arm. exclusion criteria: * patient has a history of cancer within 5 years other than pancreatic cancer (excluding resected non melanoma skin carcinoma * patient has active (untreated or still receiving corticosteroids) brain metastases * patient has had prior chemotherapy for metastatic disease * patient has received prior gemcitabine \< 12 months previously * patient is currently taking a bile acid sequestrant drug (such as questran, colestid or welchol) or a fibric acid derivative drug (such as lopid, tricor, antara, lofibra and trilipix) - patients with disturbances of lipid metabolism such as pathologic hyperlipidemia (including congenital hypertriglyceridemia or cholesterolemia), lipoid nephrosis, or acute pancreatitis * patient has uncontrolled type 1 or 2 diabetes mellitus * patient has another active medical condition(s) or organ disease(s) that may either compromise patient safety or interfere with the safety and/or outcome (e.g., survival) evaluation of the study drugs * patient or physician plans surgical treatment of malignancy, radiation therapy, or biological treatment for cancer including immunotherapy while on study, other than surgical bypass or stent insertion for relief of bile flow blockage * patient has a known allergy to soybeans (used in production of kanglaite injection) or job's tear (source of active ingredient of kanglaite injection), or to gemcitabine * patient has nyha congestive heart failure class ii or higher from any cause * patient has unstable angina or history of an mi within 12 months * patient is pregnant or lactating * patient has used or plans to use another investigational agent within four weeks prior to screening through the entire study period including study termination and the follow-up visits.