Gemcitabine and Imatinib Mesylate as First-Line Therapy in Patients With Locally Adv. or Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer

OBJECTIVES: Primary * Evaluate the time to progression in patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer treated with gemcitabine hydrochloride and imatinib mesylate as first-line therapy. Secondary * Assess the response rate in patients treated with this regimen. * Assess the percentage of patients treated with this regimen who survive 1 year or more. * Assess the toxicity of this regimen in these patients. * Assess the overall survival of patients treated with this regimen. OUTLINE: This is a multicenter, nonrandomized, open-label, uncontrolled study. Patients receive gemcitabine hydrochloride IV over 120 minutes on days 3 and 10 and oral imatinib mesylate on days 1-5 and 8-12. Treatment repeats every 21 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed every 3 months. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 42 patients will be accrued for this study.