It’s a time of excitement in the world of cancer. For the first time in history, we seem to be making great strides in effective treatments. Immunotherapies that unleash the immune system on cancer are curing the disease in some patients and targeted therapies that block the roads a cancer takes to become an aggressive killer are helping scores of others live longer.
And yet, for patients with pancreatic cancer, these advances provide little but frustration. We regularly see patients who ask us for access to immunotherapy, or who want to be put on clinical trials for the newest targeted therapy in the hope that this will improve their outcomes. But so far, none of these new therapeutic options have hit the mark. Pancreatic cancer has not seen a game-changing new therapy in over 40 years.
