Precision Therapeutics to present pancreatic cancer data at 2011 ASCO GI Symposium

Precision Therapeutics, Inc. will present pancreatic cancer data based on Precision's ChemoFx® in-vitro chemosensitivity test at the 2011 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) GI Symposium, January 20-22 in San Francisco, California.  

The two studies accepted by the ASCO GI are titled, InVitro Sensitivity of 5 FU and Gemcitabine in Pancreatic Cancer and Pattern of In Vitro Chemotherapy Response in Pancreatic Cancer and its Clinical Implication and will be presented by Drs. Jan Franko, Malcolm Bilimoria, Sricharan Chalikonda and David Iannitti.  The data demonstrate high (76%) in-vitro chemoresistance to traditional chemotherapy (gemcitabine or 5-FU as single agents); however, tumors resistant to one drug were not necessarily resistant to the other.  Moreover, 22% of the tumors found to be resistant to traditional single agent chemotherapy were observed to be sensitive to gemcitabine and 5-FU as a combination.  

"Traditionally, chemotherapy is selected based on the histology and site of tumor origin, but is not patient-specific.  The poor efficacy of this empirical approach is seen in daily clinical practice," says Dr. Jan Franko, lead investigator on the studies. "Our work supports the notion that the selection of chemotherapeutic agents may need to be based on the unique characteristics of a tumor sampled from patients.  ChemoFx® may assist with this by providing information on which drugs may actually be active in individual patients."

Pancreatic cancer kills an estimated 37,000 Americans per year and while recent studies on drug combinations have been promising, improvements in survival have been minimal over the past twenty-five years.