Dr. Philip on Drug Developments for Pancreatic Cancer

Philip A. Philip, MD, PhD, FRCP, professor of Medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine, clinical professor of Oncology at Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, discusses drug developments for patients with pancreatic cancer.

There has been a decade or more of pancreatic cancer research, with many of the trials resulting in negative outcomes, explains Philip. There was no patient population that reached a median survival of 12 months. All studies that focused on targeted agents failed to produce any clinically meaningful results regarding new treatment.

There is still much more availability of drugs than there was 5 years ago, says Philip. There are more studies being done about the biology and genetics of the disease, which helps develop new trials that could change the landscape of therapy.