The research team found that the combination of gataparsen and docetaxel did not work better than docetaxel alone for advanced non small cell lung cancer.
This trial was open for people to join between 2010 and 2012. The research team published the results in 2014.
Results
The research team used CT scans to measure whether there was a change in the size of people’s cancers after 6 weeks of treatment. They found that there wasn’t much change in size, and no difference between the two groups.
They looked at how long it was before the cancer started to grow again, and they found the 2 groups were similar:
- 3.3 months for those who had docetaxel
- 2.8 months for those who had docetaxel and gataparsen
They also looked at how long people lived for. Again, they found that there wasn’t much difference between the 2 groups:
- 8.8 months for those who had docetaxel
- 7.9 months for those who had docetaxel and gataparsen
Side effects
Some people taking part did have side effects. The most common side effects were a drop in white and red blood cells, and extreme tiredness (fatigue).
10 people who had gataparsen and docetaxel, and 3 people who had docetaxel alone, decided to stop treatment because of side effects they were having.
Conclusion
The research team concluded that gataparsen and docetaxel was not better than docetaxel alone for advanced non small cell lung cancer.
But even when a trial shows a treatment isn’t useful for a particular cancer, it adds to our knowledge and understanding of cancer and how to treat it.
Where this information comes from
We have based this summary on information from the research team. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (
peer reviewed 
) and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team who did the research. We have not analysed the data ourselves.