Gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel in first line treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer – head-to-head comparison with the mFOLFIRINOX regimen

Metastatic pancreatic ductal carcinoma (mPDAC) is one of the most lethal malignancies. The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) guidelines recommend a gemcitabine doublet + nab-paclitaxel (Gem/Nab-P) or a modified FOLFIRINOX regimen (mFOLFIRINOX) as options for systemic chemotherapy. Gemcitabine monotherapy is an option for patients in a worse performance status (PS). Indirect comparisons of pivotal trials with Gem/Nab-P and mFOLFIRINOX vs. gemcitabine monotherapy (PRODIGE-4 and MPACT) indicated longer overall survival (OS) in patients treated with mFOLFIRINOX. However, it should be taken into account that the MPACT study with Gem/Nab-P included patients with an overall worse performance status. A direct comparison of these chemotherapy regimens was lacking. Indirect comparisons from real practice show their comparable effectiveness in terms of OS, progression-free survival and overall response rate. The safety profile is consistently different. The recently published phase II/III GENERATE trial, which directly compared Gem/Nab-P and mFOLFIRINOX in treatment-naïve mPDAC patients, demonstrated significantly longer OS in Gem/Nab-P-treated patients exceeding 17 months with a lower incidence of non-hematologic toxicity. The results sparked a lively discussion at the ESMO 2023 Congress. The comparison of Gem/Nab-P and mFOLFIRINOX was also addressed by prof. Prager in his presentation at the PragueONCO 2024 conference. Prager, who highlighted comparable efficacy of both regimens and better safety of Gem/Nab-P and demonstrated the benefit of Gem/Nab-P also in patients older than 70 years and those with Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) 2. It should also be taken into account that the choice of first line treatment determines the therapeutic options in the 2nd line. If the Gem/Nab-P regimen is used in the first line, pegylated liposomal irinotecan (nal-IRI) in combination with 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin (5-FU/LV) can be used in the second line. This regimen demonstrated prolongation of OS compared to 5-FU/LV in phase III study NAPOLI-1. In patients pretreated with the mFOLFIRINOX regimen, gemcitabine monotherapy or Gem/Nab-P can be used in the second line. Early examination of molecular predictive parameters will enable the identification of cases for which appropriate targeted therapy or immunotherapy is available.