ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT06576115Updated Aug 10, 2026

Gemcitabine, Nab-paclitaxel Plus the TheraBionic P1 (an Amplitude-Modulated Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields) Device to Treat Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer

A Phase 2 interventional study of Nab paclitaxel and Gemcitabine in Metastatic Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma, sponsored by Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute. Recruiting at 7 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-10.

Sponsored by Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Feb 2025; still recruiting 1 year 8 months later.
Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
30
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The goal of this study is to learn if the combination of nab-paclitaxel, gemcitabine and an Amplitude-Modulated Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields device (Therabionic P1) is safe and effective for patients with adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.

02

Conditions studied

  • Metastatic Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma
03

In context

Lead sponsor

Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute is the lead sponsor of 161 studies on the registry; 19 are open to participants now.

Of its 8 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 6 (75%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Patients must have or cytologically proven advanced adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. Patients with mixed tumor with predominant adenocarcinoma pathology can be enrolled.
  • One or more measurable metastatic tumors per (RECIST v1.1) on imaging studies CT or MRI or PET scans
  • If female patient is of must have a negative serum pregnancy test (βhCG) documented up to 48 hrs prior to administration of chemotherapy.
  • Females of childbearing potential and males with female partners of childbearing potential, if sexually active, must agree to use two forms of during the period of administration of study drug and up to 6 months after the end of treatment. Should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while participating in this study, she must inform her treating physician immediately.
  • Age above 18 years
  • Based on prior studies, patients 80 years of age and older are considered to be at higher risk for fatal neutropenic sepsis. These patients should be thoroughly evaluated including geriatric assessment prior to enrollment. Clinical judgment should be exercised regarding patients' susceptibility for sepsis or infection (presence of biliary tract infection, uncontrolled diabetes, etc.). The patients in this age group should be not enrolled should there be any concern for rapid deterioration of clinical and functional status.
  • (ECOG) performance status of 0-1.
  • Parameter Levels:

(ANC) ≥ 1,500/mcL > 100,000/mcL Total ≤ 1.5 X institutional (SGOT)/ALT(SGPT) \< 2.5 X ins Creatinine ≤ 1.5 X institutional upper limit of normal Or CrCL > 50

  • Ability to understand and the willingness to sign an IRB-approved document (either directly or via a legally authorized representative).

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients who have had chemotherapy with gemcitabine and/or nab-paclitaxel within six months prior to entering the study in the or neo-adjuvant setting.
  • Patients receiving any other agents.
  • Patients with known are excluded from this clinical trial because of their poor prognosis and because they often develop progressive neurologic dysfunction that would confound the evaluation of neurologic and other adverse events.
  • History of or allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel.
  • No history of in last 3 years except cervical cancer in situ, adequately treated basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma of skin or treated low risk prostate cancer, who are considered to be eligible.
  • Patients receiving calcium channel blockers and any agent blocking L-type of T-type Voltage Gated Calcium Channels such as amlodipine, nifedipine, ethosuximide are not allowed in the study unless their medical treatment is modified to exclude calcium channel blockers prior to enrollment. (Refer to Appendix D for a comprehensive list of excluded medications)
  • Patients with active and uncontrolled bacterial, viral or fungal infection requiring systemic therapy. Patients can be reevaluated for the study if the infection is deemed to be under control and the systemic therapy is completed.
  • Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements or could compromise patients' safety.
  • Patient with known diagnosis of interstitial lung disease, sarcoidosis, pulmonary fibrosis or pneumonitis.
  • Pregnant women are excluded from this study because of potential risk for teratogenic or abortifacient effects. Because there is an unknown but potential risk for adverse events in nursing infants secondary to treatment of the mother with chemotherapy and AM RF EMF, patients who are breastfeeding will be excluded to participate in this study.
  • Patient has localized resectable or locally advanced tumor.
  • Patients has undergone major surgery, other than diagnostic surgery or procedures, within 4 weeks prior to the treatment day.
  • Patients is unable to comply with study procedures or anticipating a situation that would result in a treatment break for 14 or more consecutive days after the start of the study.
  • Patient is enrolled in any other clinical interventional trial.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(17)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Histologically or cytologically confirmed

The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).

Your pathology report is the document that shows this.

Metastases

Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.

RECIST

The standard rules for measuring tumours on CT or MRI scans, to tell whether a cancer is shrinking, stable or growing during treatment.

“Measurable disease per RECIST 1.1” usually means at least one tumour 10 mm or more at its longest on a CT scan, or a lymph node 15 mm or more across its short axis.

Childbearing potential

Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).

Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

ECOG performance status

A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.

0
Fully active, no restrictions.
1
Limited in strenuous activity, but walking and able to do light work, such as housework or office work.
2
Walking and able to look after yourself, but unable to work; up and about more than half of waking hours.
3
Able to look after yourself only in part; in bed or a chair more than half of waking hours.
4
Unable to look after yourself at all; in bed or a chair all day.

Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.

Absolute neutrophil count (ANC)

The number of neutrophils, white blood cells that help fight infection, in a given amount of blood. Too few raises the risk of infection.

It is a count, not a percentage of the white cells. Limits are written in units that mean the same: ≥ 1.5 × 10⁹/L is ≥ 1,500 per mm³ (µL). Each lab has its own reference range.

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Adjuvant and neoadjuvant

Neoadjuvant treatment is given before the main treatment (usually surgery), often to shrink a tumour. Adjuvant treatment is given after it, to lower the chance of the cancer coming back.

Investigational drug or device

A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.

It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.

Brain metastases

Cancer deposits in the brain from a cancer that started elsewhere in the body (CNS metastases include the spinal cord).

Studies differ: some leave out any brain metastases, some accept ones treated and stable for some weeks. Check what this study allows.

Hypersensitivity

An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
30 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Gemcitabine/Nab-Paclitaxel plus TheraBionic Device

    Metastatic pancreatic cancer patients will be treated with amplitude-modulated radiofrequency electromagnetic fields using TheraBionic device in combination with standard chemotherapy, gemcitabine- nab-paclitaxel. amplitude-modulated radiofrequency electromagnetic fields will be delivered by the TheraBionic device.

    Drug: Nab paclitaxel · Drug: Gemcitabine · Device: TheraBionic P1

Interventions

  • 125 mg/m2 weekly, on days 1,8, and 15 or on days 1 and 15 as a 30-40 minute infusion administered first

    Also known as: Abraxane

  • 1000 mg/m2 weekly, on day 1,8 and 15 or 1000 mg/m2 weekly, on day 1 and 15 over 30 minutes after nab- paclitaxel infusion

    Also known as: Gemzar

  • DeviceTheraBionic P1

    This treatment consists of delivering preset low levels of radio waves into the body with a spoon-shaped antenna placed in the mouth, three times a day, for an hour each time.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. 6 Month Progression-Free Survival Rate (PFS 6)

    Progression-free survival (PFS) is defined from the time of study treatment initiation until progression or death of any cause, whichever occurs first. The six months PFS rate (PFS 6) is defined as the proportion of patients alive and progression-free at six months from treatment initiation. PFS will be evaluated according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST 1.1) guidelines.

    Time frame: 6 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. Adverse Event Incidence

    Evaluate the safety and tolerability of the combination of nab-paclitaxel, gemcitabine and AM RF EMF categorized and graded according to National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (NCI CTCAE version 5). The adverse event incidence rate will be defined as a proportion of patients who experience adverse events among the safety population.

    Time frame: Up to 1 year

  2. Median Progression Free Survival (PFS)

    PFS is defined from the time of study treatment initiation until progression or death of any cause, whichever occurs first. PFS will be evaluated according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST 1.1) guidelines. The median PFS will be estimated using Kaplan-Meier estimate.

    Time frame: Up to 1 year

  3. 6-month Overall Status rate (OS 6)

    Overall survival (OS) is defined from the time of study treatment initiation until the death of any cause. The six months OS rate (OS 6) is defined as the proportion of patients alive at six months from treatment initiation.

    Time frame: 6 Months

  4. Median OS

    OS is defined from the time of study treatment initiation until death of any cause. The median OS will be estimated using Kaplan-Meier estimate.

    Time frame: Up to 1 year

  5. Objective Response Rate (ORR)

    ORR is defined as the proportion of patients with partial or complete responses based on Radiographic Determination of Treatment Response by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST v1.1) by CT Scan or MRI: 1. Complete Response (CR): Complete disappearance of all target and non-target lesions (with the exception of lymph nodes mentioned below). No new lesions. No disease related symptoms. Any lymph nodes (whether target or non-target) must have reduction in short axis to \< 1.0 cm. All disease must be assessed using the same technique as baseline. 2. Partial Response (PR): Applies only to patients with at least one measurable lesion. Greater than or equal to 30% decrease under baseline of the sum of appropriate diameters of all target measurable lesions.

    Time frame: Up to 1 year

  6. Disease Control Rate (DCR)

    Disease control rate is defined as the proportion of patients with disease control (complete or partial response or stable disease) based on RECISTv1.1 criteria: 1. Complete Response (CR): Complete disappearance of all target and non-target lesions (with the exception of lymph nodes mentioned below). No new lesions. No disease related symptoms. Any lymph nodes (whether target or non-target) must have reduction in short axis to \< 1.0 cm. All disease must be assessed using the same technique as baseline. 2. Partial Response (PR): Applies only to patients with at least one measurable lesion. Greater than or equal to 30% decrease under baseline of the sum of appropriate diameters of all target measurable lesions. 3. Stable disease: Does not qualify for CR, PR, Progression or Symptomatic Deterioration. All target measurable lesions must be assessed using the same techniques as baseline.

    Time frame: Up to 1 year

07

Study locations

7 of 7 sites recruiting
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Aug 10, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06576115
Responsible party
Anthony F. Shields, MD PhD (Associate Center Director, Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute) — Principal investigator
First posted
Aug 28, 2024
Start date
Feb 28, 2025
Primary completion
Jul 2027 (estimated)
Completion
Jul 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Aug 10, 2026

Study contacts

Anthony F Shields, MD PhD
Contact
shieldsa@karmanos.org
3135768735
Anthony F Shields, M.D. PhD
principal investigator · Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute

Oversight

FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
Yes
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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Studies of the drugs tested here: Albumin-Bound Paclitaxel · Gemcitabine

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