{"id":633373,"date":"2026-09-23T10:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T10:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/633373\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T10:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T10:18:13","slug":"new-drug-offers-first-glimmer-of-hope-in-treatment-of-pancreatic-cancer-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/633373\/","title":{"rendered":"New drug offers \u2018first glimmer of hope\u2019 in treatment of pancreatic cancer \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Irish researcher has discovered what has been described as the \u201cfirst glimmer of hope\u201d for pancreatic cancer <\/a>treatment, after leading a clinical trial that indicated a specific drug doubled survival time when compared to chemotherapy.<\/p>\n

About 600 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer <\/a>\u2013 one of the most aggressive forms of cancer \u2013 in the Republic annually. <\/p>\n

Consultant oncologist Prof John Crown said it was \u201cvery difficult to treat\u201d but described a new drug treatment as the first glimmer of hope.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Symptoms of pancreatic cancer can be difficult to spotOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s often advanced when it\u2019s diagnosed. There isn\u2019t, as yet, a good screening test for it. And it isn\u2019t sensitive to immunotherapy treatment; it\u2019s baked into the biology of the cancer that makes it hard for drugs to penetrate into it,\u201d said Crown, speaking in advance of a conference on oncology research starting in Dublin today.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with the disease <\/a>is that only a minority at the time of diagnosis are operable and, generally speaking, if you\u2019re not operable, you\u2019re not curable. And even if it is operated on, the risk of relapse is still high.\u201d<\/p>\n

He described recent research findings by Trinity College Dublin graduate and renowned expert on pancreatic cancer Dr Eileen O\u2019Reilly as \u201ctwinkle of the eye stuff\u201d.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Reilly is a gastrointestinal medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. She led the phase-three clinical trial of the drug daraxonrasib <\/a>for people with metastatic pancreatic cancer.<\/p>\n

It found patients lived for a median of 13.2 months, compared to 6.7 months on standard chemotherapy.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Pancreatic cancer: \u2018I\u2019ve had this niggling pain in my left side\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Crown said the findings were a \u201cbig nudge in what is a really grim and relentless disease\u201d.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Reilly will be a keynote speaker to discuss the recent advances in treatment at the 19th international symposium on translational research in oncology, running at the Herbert Park Hotel in Ballsbridge, Dublin, until Friday.<\/p>\n

She is also hosting a public meeting called Dare2Cure for pancreatic cancer patients, survivors and families at the hotel at 6.30pm today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Irish researcher has discovered what has been described as the \u201cfirst glimmer of hope\u201d for pancreatic cancer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,258,250201,12875,61,60],"class_list":["post-633373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-cancer","tag-cancer-trials-ireland","tag-health-wellness","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}