A study looking at a combination of treatments for weight and muscle loss in people with lung or pancreatic cancer (pre MENAC)

This study is looking at possible treatments for a condition called cachexia, in people with non small cell lung cancer and pancreatic cancer.

If you have cancer you may find that you lose your appetite, lose weight and have extreme tiredness (fatigue). You may hear this called cachexia (pronounced kak-ex-ee-a). At the moment, there is no standard treatment for this condition.

In this study, researchers are looking at possible treatments for cachexia. These are

Advice about exercise and diet
A supplement drink
A non steroidal anti inflammatory drug called celecoxib

The aim of the study is to see if the combination of these treatments helps people with weight loss, lack of appetite and fatigue.

Recruitment

Start 27/02/2012

End 31/03/2013

Phase

Phase 2

You may be able to enter this study if

You have a type of lung cancer called non small cell lung cancer that is stage 3 or 4 or cancer of the pancreas that your doctors don’t think can be cured
You are due to start chemotherapy, with or without radiotherapy
You are able to care for yourself but not able to carry on with all your normal activities or do active work (Karnofsky performance score of more than 70)
You are willing to use reliable contraception during the study if there is a chance that you or your partner could become pregnant
Your doctor thinks you would be fit enough to take part in this study for 2 months
You are between 18 and 75 years of age

This is a phase 2 study. It is randomised. The people taking part are put into groups randomly. Neither you nor your doctor will be able to decide which group you are in.

If you are in group 1, you will take action to improve your physical condition over 6 weeks by

Having advice about the best way to make sure you eat enough food
Drinking a special supplement drink twice a day
Following advice on exercises to make your upper body and legs stronger, and being encouraged to walk for 30 minutes twice a week (you do not need to be in good physical shape to take part in this study)
Taking the drug celecoxib 3 times a day

During your study visits, the team will ask you questions about

Your quality of life
What you eat
How active you are
Any symptoms you may have

You will also have several blood tests during the study, so that researchers can learn more about cancer and cachexia.

If you are in group 2, you will not have this extra support straight away. This is so that the study team can see if the extra support people have in group 1 makes a difference. After 6 weeks, when the team have compared information, you will also have this extra support for the same length of time.

Doctors will also use information collected from everyone’s routine CT scans to help them in the study.

After you finish the study, you may be able to carry on having the supplement drink along with advice about diet and exercise if your doctor thinks it helped you.

Whichever group you are in, you will be in the study for about 12 weeks altogether (but people in group 2 will wait for 6 weeks to start the study once they have agreed to join). During the 12 weeks, you will need to visit the hospital between 3 and 5 times to see the study doctor and nurse, and also a physiotherapist and dietitian. The first study visit will take about 2 hours, but visits after this should take less time. Where possible, the team will arrange these visits to be at the same time as your routine hospital appointments.

The study team will pay for your travel for these appointments.

Side effects of celecoxib include

High blood pressure
Swelling or puffiness of your arms, legs or face (fluid retention)
Dizziness
Problems sleeping
Stomach ache
Diarrhoea
Stomach ulcer
Possible risk of heart problems

Location of trial

For more information

Please note: we cannot help you to join a specific trial. Unless we state otherwise in this trial summary, you need to print this page and take it to your own doctor to discuss.

Find out how to join a trial or contact our cancer information nurses for other questions about cancer by phone (0808 800 4040), by email, or at

The Information Nurses
Cancer Research UK
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