Active Symptom Control Alone or With mFOLFOX Chemotherapy for Locally Advanced/ Metastatic Biliary Tract Cancers

Active chemotherapy drugs for the treatment of ABC include gemcitabine, fluoropyrimidines and platinum agents. The randomized NCRN phase III ABC-02 trial provided level A evidence supporting first-line combination cisplatin and gemcitabine (CisGem) chemotherapy in ABC. To date, there is no randomized data to support the use of second-line chemotherapy in ABC. In this setting only a small number of retrospective and prospective (phase II) studies employing multiple different chemotherapy schedules have been conducted (level C). Thus, active symptom control (ASC) is the current standard of care after development of resistance to first-line chemotherapy. Oxaliplatin has activity in several gastrointestinal tumours and has synergistic activity with a favourable toxicity profile when used in combination with 5-FU. Several studies using mFOLFOX for biliary tract tumours have provided promising efficacy data and acceptable toxicity. The aim of this trial is to determine if patients with ABC benefit with respect to survival from the addition of mFOLFOX chemotherapy to ASC in the second-line setting after progression to first-line treatment with CisGem. This study will establish the standard of care for patients with ABC who have progressed on first line CisGem chemotherapy. This is a randomised phase III, multi-centre, controlled, open-label trial of patients with advanced biliary tract cancer with evidence of disease progression after prior CisGem chemotherapy treatment. Eligible patients (ECOG 0-1, adequate haematological, renal and liver function, adequate biliary drainage, with no evidence of ongoing infection) will be randomized to receive either ASC ("standard" arm) or ASC with oxaliplatin/5-FU chemotherapy ("experimental" arm). The total number of participants planned is 162 (randomized 1:1). At randomisation the following factors will be controlled for: serum albumin level, platinum sensitivity (determined from first-line therapy) and locally advanced vs metastatic disease. The primary end point is overall survival. Quality of life and economic evaluation will assess the impact on patients and relative cost effectiveness of the intervention. Archival paraffin-embedded tissue will be collected at baseline and prospective blood samples (whole blood, serum and plasma) will be collected for translational research.