Carboplatin and Etoposide With or Without Oblimersen Sodium in Treating Patients With Extensive Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. To assess the percentage of patients with extensive stage small cell lung cancer treated with G3139 (oblimersen sodium), carboplatin, and etoposide who live longer than 12 months. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. To assess the response rate of patients treated with G3139, carboplatin, and etoposide. II. To assess the toxicity of the combination of G3139, carboplatin, and etoposide. III. To compare the toxicity observed to that seen in a cohort of patients treated with carboplatin and etoposide alone. OUTLINE: Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms. ARM I: Patients receive oblimersen sodium intravenously (IV) continuously on days 1-8, carboplatin IV over 30 minutes on day 6, and etoposide IV over 60 minutes on days 6-8. Treatment repeats every 21 days for 6 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. ARM II: Patients receive carboplatin IV over 30 minutes on day 1 and etoposide IV over 60 minutes on days 1-3. Treatment repeats every 21 days for 6 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up every 3 months for 1 year, and then every 6 months for 2 years.