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For What Purpose Metformin, Capecitabine And Erlotinib Advised?

Posted on Wed, 7 Oct 2015

Question: she is very weak right now,and I'm responding for her. She is my mother. She had an appt wjth her primary care physician sept 10th. He was ask about the metformin, capecitabine,and erlotinib. He said the metformin is for new diabetic patients and he has never heard of the other meds but maybe her oncologist might so he's going to setup another appt with him. We have not heard anything as of yet about the apt with the oncologist so my family decided to change Dr and get a second opinion. She has an appt Tuesday morning sept 22 at 10:45.

Answered by Dr. Indranil Ghosh (3 hours later)

Brief Answer:
these drugs have activity in pancreatic cancer

Detailed Answer:
Hi
Thanks for following up.

Metformin is an anti-diabetic drug but has activity against many cancers including pancreatic cancer. Many trials are going on. You can go through the following link which will give you some idea.
http://www.pancreatic.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=htJYJ8MPIwE&b=0000&ct=0000

Capecitabine and erlotinib are oral anti-cancer medicines and have activity against pancreatic cancer. Some studies have been carried out. The following link may be useful.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/0000

I feel that she should see an oncologist and find out if any of the above medicines are applicable for her.

Hope this helps.
Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar