A combination of two chemotherapy drugs show promising results in fighting pancreatic cancer, according to a study presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting Friday.
The study found that patients who take the oral drug capecitabine along with intravenous drug gemcitabine after surgical removal of pancreatic cancer had higher survival rates compared to those only taking gemcitabine.
Researchers reported a five-year survival rate of 28.8 percent among the group treated with both drugs, in contrast to the 16.3 percent survival rate of the group treated with just gemcitabine.
The median overall survival rate was 28 months for the combination of drugs and 25.5 months for gemcitabine alone.
"The difference in median survival may seem modest, but the improvement in long-term survival is substantial for this cancer," said John Neoptolemos, MD, the study's lead author.