Breakthrough in pancreatic cancer: World’s most formidable disease can have a life-extending pill

Onco-surgeons and specialists all across the globe are calling it a huge ‘landmark’ made so far in the domain of pancreatic cancer.

The discovery of pancreatic cancer in a person is devastating news to all the parties involved, including the patient and doctors.

With a survival rate of less than five years and a mortality rate that can go as high as 97 per cent, the disease is a nightmare for those affected and has few to no viable treatment options.

As per reports, many die within six months or a year from their diagnosis.

Often diagnosed at advanced stages, the surgery to operate cancer from pancreas has casually been tagged as the ‘Mount Everest of general surgery’ as the surgical site poses a highly complex and difficult terrain.

The results from a clinical trial has given some hope after decades — a medicine has been found to extend lives of those affected by the deadly cancer, almost increasing the survival span by twice the anticipated time.

What was found in the clinical trials?

The results of the clinical trials presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meet in Chicago and published in the New England Journal of Medicine has been awaited by the onco-surgeons and specialists all across the globe with some experts calling it a huge ‘landmark’ made so far in the domain of pancreatic cancer.

The pill developed by some scientists at the Revolution Medicines aimed at targeting the toughest nut so far — the undruggable mutated KRAS genes that very often operate in patients with pancreatic malignancy.

Usually the proteins around any cell, in this case cancerous cells, have pockets where chemicals and drugs often get bound to and influence its action.

The notorious KRAS gene is smooth as silk, offering no hooks for the drug to get attached and when mutated, it becomes unstoppable and aids in fast cancer progression that goes almost unchecked.

This makes even treatments like chemotherapy to become less effective in patients with pancreatic cancers with the disease outpacing the treatment.

In the experiment which included 500 people who already had been treated once for pancreatic cancer, were divided into two groups. One set of participants were administered traditional medicine like chemotherapy and the other set was given an experimental pill, called Daraxonrasib. 

It was found that those on the experimental pill lived for a median of over 13 months than those on chemotherapy that lived for 6.6 months, almost twice the duration.

The researchers also found the medicine also allowed a progression-free survival for the patients.

As per experts, if approved, this medicine can revolutionise the treatment and emerge as a targeted treatment for those affected by this stubborn and highly aggressive forms of cancer, elongating their lives. 

Why surgery fails in pancreatic cancer?

Apart from chemotherapy, some patients eye a surgical removal of the cancerous tissue.

Pancreas, an organ that sits deep inside the abdominal cavity has a peculiar position.

As per experts, it sits posteriorly in the abdomen, surrounded by vital organs and blood vessels all around. In its front, sits the stomach, on its right its own head slips into the second part of the small intestine, on its left there is spleen and its blood vessels and just behind it runs two major blood vessels of the body, abdominal aorta and its offshoot.

As per John Hopkins Medicine, the organ is easily ‘crushable’ and has a vulnerable texture.

This anatomically dangerous position of the organ makes pancreatic surgery a challenging terrain. The removal of the cancerous tissue is also followed by a makeshift ‘digestive system’ created by joining the remaining parts of the intestine, stomach and pancreas. This delicate juncture lies at a high risk of internal bleeding and other digestive complications.