Earlier this year a study found that FOLFIRINOX had benefits for some people pancreatic cancer compared with gemcitabine. How do you determine what chemotherapy drugs are best for what patients?

Both gemcitabine in combination with erlotinib and FOLFIRINOX have been shown to be efficacious regimens for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. The FOLFIRINOX study was published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine and is very exciting due to the marked survival advantage of this combination. However, this regimen is toxic and needs to be given in patients with good performance status. Gemcitabine in combination with erlotinib has modest efficacy but is more tolerable and currently is the only FDA approved regimen for advanced pancreatic cancer.