A Study Of Sunitinib Compared To Placebo For Patients With Advanced Pancreatic Islet Cell Tumors

This study randomized patients with advanced pancreatic islet cell tumors to receive either sunitinib or placebo. Patients who were randomized to sunitinib received 37.5 mg of sunitinib daily, those randomized to placebo received a tablet that looked similar but had no active drug. Neither the patient or the doctor knew whether the patient was receiving sunitinib or placebo. Patients were followed to determine the status and size of their tumors, survival, quality of life and safety of the drug.

The study was designed to detect a 50% improvement in median PFS[Progression Free Survival] with 90% power and was to enroll 340 subjects. An interim analysis was planned when 130 events had occurred, and the final analysis was to be conducted when 260 events had occurred.

Study A6181111 was stopped early during the enrollment period because of a clear and clinically meaningful improvement in efficacy for the sunitinib treatment arm as recommended by the DMC [Data Monitoring Committee]. The actual number of subjects enrolled was 171 and the actual number of PFS events recorded was 81 PFS events. The decision to terminate the study was not based on safety concerns related to sunitinib administration.