OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. Patients are stratified by participating center, primary site (gallbladder vs bile duct), disease stage (locally advanced vs metastatic), prior therapy (i.e., surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy) (yes vs no), performance score (0 vs 1 vs 2 vs 3), and prior treatment arm on UK chemotherapy trial ABC-02 (gemcitabine hydrochloride alone vs gemcitabine hydrochloride and cisplatin). Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 arms.