A phase II trial of alternating cycles of carboplatin/paclitaxel and carboplatin/gemcitabine for stage IIIB/IV non-small cell lung cancer

19113 Background: Combination chemotherapies have demonstrated response rate (RR) of 30–50% with median survival of only approx 10 months for patients with stage IIIB/ IV NSCLC. Therefore it is important to search for new agents or new combinations of existing regimens. Goldie and Codman model proposed that alternating non-cross resistant combinations would prevent the overgrowth of resistant cancer cells and improve the probability of tumor control. We conducted a phase II study at Saskatoon Cancer Ctr, (Canada) to determine clinical response of Carboplatin/Paclitaxel (C/P) alternating with Carboplatin/Gemcitabine (C/G) for advanced NSCLC. Methods: Patients with chemotherapy naive Stage IIIB or IV NSCLC, ECOG PS ≤2, with measurable or evaluable disease and no known CNS metastases were eligible. Chemotherapy consisted of Paclitaxel (175 mg/m2) and Carboplatin (AUC=5) day 1 alternating with Carboplatin (AUC=5) day 1 and Gemcitabine 1000 mg/m2 days 1 and 8 every three weeks for a total of six cycles. Primar...