Cancer
Trials for Gastrointestinal Maligancies
words by mary ann littell
E
lizabeth Poplin, MD, professor of medicine, RWJMS, has a major interest in gastrointestinal malignancies. To that end, she was the lead author on a Phase III study, pending publication, comparing different treatments for newly diagnosed metastatic pancreas cancer. The study, conducted throughout the U.S., demonstrated that two newer treatments for metastatic pancreas cancer had comparable survival rates for patients compared to the standard treatment of gemcitabine. She is also conducting a Phase II study for patients with newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer using gemcitabine and a novel agent imatinib. Finally, she and colleagues in CINJ’s Phase I group are initiating a study of gemcitabine and another new agent, aplidine, to assess the usefulness and side effects of this combination for patients with many different kinds of cancer.
