Clinical trials for pancreatic cancer

Macmillan Cancer Support Medical Reference

Cancer research trials are carried out to try to find new and better treatments for cancer. Trials that are carried out on patients are known as clinical trials.

Why clinical trials are carried out

Clinical trials may be carried out to:

• test new treatments, such as new chemotherapy drugs, gene therapy or cancer vaccines
• look at new combinations of existing treatments, or change the way they are given, to make them more effective or to reduce side effects
• compare the effectiveness of drugs used to control symptoms
• find out how cancer treatments work
• find out which treatments are the most cost-effective.

Trials are the only reliable way to find out if a different type of surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or other treatment is better than what is already available.

Taking part in a trial

You may be asked to take part in a treatment research trial, and there can be many benefits in doing this. Trials help to improve knowledge about cancer and develop new treatments.

You will be carefully monitored during and after the study. Usually, several hospitals around the country take part in these trials. It’s important to bear in mind that some treatments which look promising at first are often later found to be less effective than existing treatments, or to have side effects that outweigh the benefits.

If you decide not to take part in a trial your decision will be respected and you do not have to give a reason. There will be no change in the way you are treated by the hospital staff and you’ll be offered the standard treatment for your situation.

Blood and tumour samples

Blood and tumour samples may be taken to help make the right diagnosis. You may be asked for your permission to use some of your samples for research into cancer. If you take part in a trial you may also give other samples, which may be frozen and stored for future use when new research techniques become available. Your name will be removed from the samples so you can’t be identified.

The research may be carried out at the hospital where you are treated, or at another one. This type of research takes a long time, and results may not be available for many years. The samples will be used to increase knowledge about the causes of cancer and its treatment, which will hopefully improve the outlook for future patients.

Current research

There are many research trials going on into pancreatic cancer. Some trials are trying to improve screening tests for people at higher risk of getting pancreatic cancer, so that if cancer occurs it can be picked up at an earlier stage when it is more treatable. Other trials are looking into ways of improving treatments, for example by using two chemotherapy drugs together or by combining chemotherapy with other treatments such as radiotherapy.

There are also studies looking into using biological treatments for pancreatic cancer. Biological treatments work by stimulating the body’s immune system (our natural defence against infection and cancer) to fight pancreatic cancer. Some studies are looking into whether vaccines can help the immune system to recognise the cancer so that it can fight it more effectively. Other studies are looking at biological treatments that are designed to interfere with the cancer’s ability to grow or make its own blood supply.

Macmillan Cancer Support's clinical trials section has details of databases you can search to look for trials for pancreatic cancer.