State of the art biological therapies in pancreatic cancer

Table 1 Principal phase III clinical trials involving targeted therapy in pancreatic cancer

Agent	Target pathway	Treatment	Setting	n	mOS (mo)	PFS (mo)	FDA approval	Ref.
Erlotinib	EGFR signaling	GEM plus erlotinib	M/LA	569	6.24 vs 5.91	3.75 vs 3.55	Yes	[5]
		vs GEM plus P			(P = 0.038)	(P = 0.004)
Cetuximab	EGFR signaling	GEM plus cetuximab	M/LA	766	6.5 vs 6	3.5 vs 3	No	[17]
		vs GEM			(P = 0.14)	(P = 0.058)
Tipifarnib	KRAS pathway	GEM plus tipifarnib	M/LA	688	6.3 vs 6	3.7 vs 3.6	No	[30]
		vs GEM			(P = 0.75)	(P = 0.72)
Ganitumab	IGFR pathway	GEM plus ganitumab (12 mg/kg or 20 mg/kg)	M	800	12 mg/kg arm	12 mg/kg arm	No	[35]
		vs GEM plus P			7.0 vs 7.2	3.7 vs 3.6
					(P = 0.494)	(P = 0.520)
					60 mg/kg arm	60 mg/kg arm
					7.1 vs 7.2	3.7 vs 3.7
					(P = 0.397)	(P = 0.403)
Bevacizumab	Angiogenesis	GEM plus bevacizumab	M/LA	602	5.7 vs 6.0	4.8 vs 4.3	No	[36]
		vs GEM plus P			(P = 0.40)	(P = 0.99)
Aflibercept	Angiogenesis	GEM plus aflibercept	M/LA	546	6.5 vs 7.8	3.7 vs 3.7	No	[38]
		vs GEM plus P			(P = 0.203)	(P = 0.864)
Axitinib	Angiogenesis	GEM plus axitinib	M/LA	632	8.5 vs 8.2	4.4 vs 4.4	No	[41]
		vs GEM plus P			(P = 0.543)	(P = 0.520)
Marimastat	Tumor stroma	GEM plus marimastat	M/LA	239	5.4 vs 5.4	3 vs 3.1	No	[75]
		vs GEM			(NA)	(NA)

GEM: Gemcitabine; P: Placebo; mOS: Median overall survival; PFS: Progression free survival; n: Number of patients enrolled; LA: Locally advanced cancer; M: Metastatic cancer; NA: Not available.