What this Trial Is About

Pancreatic cancer is a group of malignant tumors mainly originated from pancreatic ductal epithelium and follicular cells, with high degree of malignancy, insidious onset, difficult early diagnosis, rapid progression, short survival time, and one of the malignant tumors with the worst prognosis, which is known as the "king of cancers". In recent years, the incidence rate of pancreatic cancer has been increasing both at home and abroad. At present, the palliative treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer is still mainly based on chemotherapy, such as FOLFIRINOX regimen. And after standard first-line treatment, most of the patients have problems such as poor physical status, no standard treatment options and limited options available. Capecitabine is a selective fluorouracil methionine salt antitumor drug, belongs to the pyrimidine class of antimetabolites, and is the precursor drug of 5-fluorouracil. Its first-line monotherapy for pancreatic cancer is 24% effective, and it is directly recommended by NCCN 2024 V2.0 as a second-line treatment for patients with pancreatic cancer who have failed gemcitabine therapy.The 2024 CSCO Guidelines for Pancreatic Cancer recommend the use of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-like regimens as a second-line treatment for patients who have been treated with a gemcitabine-based regimen as first-line treatment. In a clinical study exploring capecitabine in gemcitabine-treated patients with metastatic or unresectable locally advanced pancreatic cancer, 42 patients received oral capecitabine 1,250 mg/m2 twice daily (2,500 mg/m2/d) as intermittent therapy in 3-week cycles consisting of 2 weeks of dosing followed by 1 week of withdrawal. A total of 4 remissions were achieved in 42 evaluable patients, for an overall remission rate of 9.5%. Irinotecan Hydrochloride Liposome Injection, the first domestic generic product developed by Shiyao Group, was launched in China in September 2023 with an approved indication for use in combination with 5-FU and calcium folinate (LV) in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer that has progressed after treatment with gemcitabine. Liposomal irinotecan hydrochloride has been studied in a number of indications including biliary tract cancer, colorectal cancer, glioma, gastric cancer, small cell lung cancer, cervical cancer, breast cancer, head and neck cancer, esophageal cancer, and neuroendocrine cancer. In the bioequivalence trial of Shiyi Group's irinotecan hydrochloride liposome injection, the ORR rate reached 12.9%, the median PFS was 6.24 months, and the median OS was 10.38 months; indicating similar efficacy and a similar safety profile. A randomized, open-label, phase 3 NAPOLI 3 study and the first phase 3 trial comparing two combination chemotherapy regimens in the first-line treatment of patients with pancreatic ductal carcinoma head-to-head was designed to compare the efficacy and safety differences between the NALIRIFOX regimen (irinotecan liposomal, fluorouracil, and calcium folinic acid in combination with oxaliplatin) versus the doublet regimen (gemcitabine + albumin-conjugated paclitaxel) in the first-line treatment of metastatic pancreatic ductal carcinoma efficacy and safety differences in the treatment of metastatic pancreatic ductal cancer. The results showed that the median OS in the NALIRIFOX treatment group was 11.1 months, while the median OS in the dual combination treatment group was 9.2 months (HR=0.83; 95% CI 0.70-0.99; p=0.036). Based on the above literature research, combined with the efficacy and safety advantages of irinotecan liposome chemotherapy combination regimen in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer, we propose to carry out a phase II clinical study of irinotecan liposome combined with capecitabine in the second-line treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer. The aim is to explore the efficacy and safety of irinotecan liposomal chemotherapy combined with capecitabine in second-line unresectable or metastatic pancreatic cancer patients, and to explore more effective clinical options for patients with pancreatic cancer that has progressed after previous treatment.

Irinotecan Liposome in Combination With Capecitabine