Metastatic pancreatic cancer is difficult to treat. Until recently, most patients would be
offered treatment with a chemotherapy drug called gemcitabine. However, a large international
trial showed that combining gemcitabine with a drug called nab-paclitaxel (or abraxane) was
more effective compared with gemcitabine alone. The purpose of this study is to compare two
different ways of combining gemcitabine with abraxane. Conventionally, both drugs are given
on the same day via a drip into a vein in the arm but research suggests that giving abraxane
24 hours in advance of gemcitabine could possibly be more beneficial.
In this study, blood and tumour samples will be collected and analysed to try to confirm what
has been seen in the laboratory studies. In addition, the investigators wish to find out
whether certain tumour characteristics (called biomarkers) can be used to predict for
response to chemotherapy.