A clinical trial was conducted to see if the addition of Gemzar (gemcitabine) to Paraplatin (carboplatin) would improve progression free survival in women with ovarian cancer who had been treated and have since had a recurrence of their disease.
The trial included 356 patients who have received prior chemotherapy. The women in study had a cancer recurrence at least six months following initial chemotherapy. They separated the women into two groups. One group was treated with Gemzar and carbolplatin, the other group of patients only received carboplatin.
A complete disappearance of detectable cancer occurred in over 14 percent of the patients who were treated with Gemzar and carboplatin, compared with only a little over 6 percent for those treated with just carboplatin.
The researches from Europe, Canada, and the United States agree that the results indicate the superiority of the addition of Gemzar to carboplatin for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer that has recurred.
