A phase II open-label randomized study to assess the efficacy and safety of selumetinib (AZD6244 [ARRY-142886]) versus capecitabine in patients with advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer who have failed first-line gemcitabine therapy

Abstract

Selumetinib is a potent, selective MEK inhibitor with efficacy in several tumor models. This study compared selumetinib with capecitabine in patients with advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer who had been pretreated with a gemcitabine-based regimen. In this randomized, multicenter phase II study (NCT00372944), patients received either 100 mg oral selumetinib twice daily or 1,250 mg/m2 oral capecitabine twice daily for 2 weeks followed by a 1-week break, given in 3-weekly cycles. The primary endpoint was overall survival. In all 70 patients were randomized. The median survival was 5.4 months in the selumetinib group and 5.0 months in the capecitabine group (hazard ratio 1.03; two-sided 80..