New 'triple strike' cancer revolution

AN effective new way of treating pancreatic cancer by blasting it with three drugs at once has been discovered by scientists.

- BY LUCY JOHNSTON Social Affairs Editor

The triple-whammy approach shuts down the disease’s escape routes and stops tumours from coming back, and could revolutionise treatment for the disease.

Researchers said it could “open a path to designing new combination therapies that can improve survival for patients” with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, the most common and aggressive form of the illness.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer, with around 10,500 people diagnosed each year in the UK and about 10,000 deaths annually, making survival chances poor.

Only around 13% of patients live for five years after diagnosis. For those diagnosed late, survival can fall to as low as 1%.

One of the biggest problems with pancreatic cancer is that it is hard to spot early.

Tumours grow deep inside the body and often cause no clear symptoms.