"He went through six operations and was placed on a clinical trial so he could try new treatments.”
A trial to find out how well gemcitabine and oxaliplatin work for children and young people with cancer (CCLG NAG 2007 01)
Cancer type:
Children's cancers
Status:
Results
Phase:
Phase 2
This trial looked at the chemotherapy drugs gemcitabine and oxaliplatin, to find out how well they worked for children with 
, and to understand more about their side effects. The trial recruited children and young people whose solid tumour had continued to grow or came back despite treatment.
This trial was for children and young people up to and including the age of 20. We use the term ‘you’ in this summary, but of course if you are a parent, we are referring to your child.
Gemcitabine is used to treat many different types of cancer affecting adults. We know from research that it might be a useful treatment for children.
Oxaliplatin is also used to treat adults with cancer, and was being looked at as a possible treatment for children. Doctors thought that gemcitabine and oxaliplatin may work better if your child had them together.
The aims of this trial were to find out how well this combination of drugs worked and what the side effects were.
Summary of results
The trial team found that the combination of gemcitabine and oxaliplatin was safe to give. But the combination didn’t work as well as they had hoped.
This trial recruited 93 children.
After 4 cycles of treatment the trial team looked at how well the children had responded to treatment. They found that of the 93 children, in
- 4 children their tumour had shrunk –
partial response
- 26 children their tumour had stayed the same –
stable disease
- 63 children their tumour had continued to grow
The most common side effects were
The trial team concluded that although the combination of gemcitabine and oxaliplatin was safe it did not work very well for children whose solid tumour had come back or continued to grow despite treatment.
We have based this summary on information from the team who ran the trial. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists () and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.
Recruitment start:
Recruitment end:
How to join a clinical trial
Please note: In order to join a trial you will need to discuss it with your doctor, unless otherwise specified.
Please note - unless we state otherwise in the summary, you need to talk to your doctor about joining a trial.
Chief Investigator
Dr Julia Chisholm
Supported by
Children's Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG)
Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC)
NIHR Clinical Research Network: Cancer
Freephone 0808 800 4040
Last review date
CRUK internal database number:
Oracle 1108
Please note - unless we state otherwise in the summary, you need to talk to your doctor about joining a trial.
Rhys was only four years old when he was diagnosed with a brain tumour
