Because of unsatisfactory treatment results with 5-fluorouracil-based palliative combination chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer, the evaluation of new effective and well-tolerated regimens is needed. We conducted a multi-center, late phase II trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Genexol® (a paclitaxel formulation) combined chemotherapy with cisplatin in patients with previously untreated metastatic or unresectable measurable gastric adenocarcinoma. All patients were between 18 and 75 years of age, with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0 to 1, and had an adequate baseline major organ function. Genexol 175 mg/m2 was administered as a 3-h infusion, followed by cisplatin 75 mg/m2 as an intravenous infusion day 1, once every 3 weeks. Thirty-six patients were enrolled from 7 hospitals between November 2002 and April 2003. Of these, 33 patients were assessable for efficacy and 35 for toxicity. Based on an intent-to-treat analysis, 16 patients (46%) achieved a partial response, 7 (20%) stable disease, and 10 (29%) progressed, giving an overall response rate of 46% (95% CI, 29% to 63%). The median duration of response was 7.1 months (95% CI, 6.3 to 7.9 months), and the median time to progression and overall survival were 4.9 months (95% CI, 3.2 to 6.6 months) and 13.8 months (95% CI, 10.8 to 16.8 months), respectively. The major toxicity was neutropenia, with grade 3/4 intensity in 10 patients (29%). However, no febrile neutropenia occurred, and non-hematologic toxicity was usually mild. Grade 3/4 toxicities included nausea (9% of the patients), vomiting (9%), peripheral neuropathy (9%), alopecia (9%), and myalgia (6%). In conclusion, the combination of Genexol and cisplatin was found to be an active and relatively well-tolerated regimen for the treatment of advanced gastric carcinoma.

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