Researchers in Spain conducted a Phase III clinical trial called GEICAM. They wanted to compare different chemotherapy regimes in women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. The trial included 252 women who had already been treated with anthracyclines and taxanes and experienced a recurrence.

One group of women was treated with Gemzar (gemcitabine) and Navelbine (vinorelbine), the other group was treated with Navelbine alone. The results were published in Lancet Oncology that states the combination of the two drugs improves progression free survival. It was also mentioned that this combination however did not improve overall survival.

When cancer recurs following treatment with anthracyclines and taxanes, some of the strongest chemotherapies for breast cancer, patients have limited treatment options. Researchers continue to search for different chemotherapy combinations that are effective against recurrent breast cancer.

The researchers concluded that anticancer responses were 36 percent for patients treated with Gemzar/Navelbine and 26 percent for patients treated with Navelbine alone.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer. So any bit of progress on the pancreatic cancer front is a big deal. And researchers are happy to report they've found a chemotherapy drug that can help patients who have received surgery prevent a return of the disease for a longer period of time.

In a German study, participants who received Gemzar, or gemcitabine, lived an average of 13.4 months without their cancers coming back. Participants who did not receive the drug lived without the disease for 6.9 months. While the findings of this study may seem modest, they really are quite encouraging because pancreatic cancer is such a rapid killer, and patients with this disease have the worst chances of recovery.

This study, published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, brings hope for the mere 20 percent of pancreatic cancer patients who are candidates for surgery. While surgery is the best hope for a cure, the disease still returns in the majority of cases -- so Gemzar is surely worth a shot.

It should be noted that some study authors report financial ties to Gemzar drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co. Researchers, however, report the firm had no influence in design or data interpretation.

Pancreatic cancer is considered one of the most deadly of cancers. The statistics are grim, as 95 percent of patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer do not survive, and 50 percent of patients die within six months after the cancer is diagnosed. There might be some hope in an allergy medication that has been around for 40 years.

According to University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center researchers, the allergy medication cromolyn reduced pancreatic tumor growth in mouse model studies, and when the drug was combined with the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine, the standard chemotherapy treatment was three times more effective. They are reported to be in the process of starting a clinical trial.

The study's lead author, Craig Logsdon, Ph.D. is quoted as saying, "The study demonstrates in mouse models of human pancreatic cancer that the cromolyn-gemcitabine combination reduced cancer growth by 85 percent compared to control animals. Cromolyn used alone actually had a good effect on reduction of tumors compared to control animals, which surprised us. It reduced tumor growth by 70 percent, compared to growth reduction of 50 percent when gemcitabine was used as a single agent."

"Our goal is to offer longer life to these patients, and the combination of these two agents may well do that."

To learn more about pancreatic cancer, visit the pancreatic cancer category here and the National Cancer Institute's What You Need To Know About Cancer of the Pancreas.