Sunitinib in Treating Patients With Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer That Progressed After First-Line Therapy With Gemcitabine

This phase II trial is studying how well sunitinib works in treating patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer that progressed after first-line therapy with gemcitabine. Sunitinib may stop the growth of pancreatic cancer by blocking blood flow to the tumor and by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. To determine the response rate to sunitinib malate in patients with previously treated metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. To determine the duration of response, progression-free survival and overall survival of sunitinib malate in patients with previously treated metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma. II. To determine the safety of sunitinib malate in patients with previously treated metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma. OUTLINE: This is a multicenter, nonrandomized study. Patients receive oral sunitinib malate daily on days 1-28. Treatment repeats every 6 weeks in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After completion of study, patients are followed every 3 months until 2 years from study entry or until disease progression.