Breakthrough pancreatic cancer drug nearly doubles survival in trial

By Janet Loehrke – USA Today

A new experimental drug may offer hope for pancreatic cancer patients. One of deadliest types of cancer in the United States, an estimated 52,740 Americanswill die from the disease this year, according to the American Cancer Society.

Patients who received the drug lived a median of 13.2 months, compared with 6.7 months for those who received chemotherapy, according to results of a phase 3 clinical trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine on May 31.