The purpose of this research study is for the study's sponsor, Enzon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Enzon), to learn more about its drug pegaspargase. Pegaspargase is the drug's scientific or generic name. Because it is already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it also has a brand name - ONCASPAR®. It is approved by the FDA for the treatment of a type of leukemia (cancer of white blood cells). However, pegaspargase is not approved by the FDA for treatment of the cancer in this study. This study will research the side effects of pegaspargase when it is used with another FDA-approved cancer treatment (chemotherapy) drug called gemcitabine HCl; its brand name is GEMZAR®. It is approved for the treatment of patients with cancer of the pancreas and of patients with breast cancer. However, gemcitabine is not approved by the FDA for treatment of any other types of cancer.~In addition, the combination of pegaspargase and gemcitabine for solid tumors and lymphoma in this study is investigational. This type of study treatment is called a combination treatment or a combination study. The information (research data) from this study will be used by Enzon to plan other combination research studies with pegaspargase plus gemcitabine for the treatment of certain cancers.
This study will research the side effects of pegaspargase (pronounced peg-as-par-gase); its brand name is ONCASPAR® when it is used with another FDA-approved cancer treatment (chemotherapy) drug called gemcitabine HCl (pronounced gem-site-a-bean; its brand name is GEMZAR®.