New Pancreatic Cancer Drug Doubles Life Expectancy

Pancreatic cancer patients now have something they rarely get: more time with the people they love.

A new experimental drug could double how long some patients live after diagnosis, from 6.7 months to 13 months. For advocates like Josh Rogers, director of Polly's Run in Albuquerque, that difference is enormous.

"I had a lot of people tell me this past week, I would have given anything for seven more months with my loved one," Rogers said.

Rogers knows the devastating speed of pancreatic cancer firsthand. His mother died just 11 months after her diagnosis, inspiring him and his brother to start Polly's Run to raise money for research. The organization brought in a record $115,000 this year.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers because doctors often can't detect it until stage four. Most patients only have weeks or months left after learning they're sick.

The new treatment works differently than standard chemotherapy. It targets a specific protein that helps cancer grow, explained Dr. Erika Maestas, a medical oncologist at the University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center.

"Standard of care chemotherapy really only extends survival by about six months, and so this is practice changing," Maestas said.

About 261 New Mexicans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year. Only 18% will survive, according to the American Cancer Society.

The treatment still needs full FDA approval, but the agency already approved an expanded access program earlier this year. That means doctors can start using it while the review process continues.

The Bright Side

After years of fundraising with little progress, Rogers finally sees hope on the horizon. "We've been here since 2009 trying to raise as much money as we can, and there hasn't been any movement," he said. "This is progress."

Researchers are also testing whether the drug might work against ovarian, colon, and some lung cancers. Those studies are still underway, but the early results for pancreatic cancer have already given countless families something precious: hope for more birthdays, holidays, and ordinary moments together.

For patients facing a diagnosis that once meant saying goodbye within weeks, an extra seven months isn't just statistics—it's a lifetime of memories still to be made.