Bibek Aryal, Surgeon-Scientist, Independent Researcher in Cancer Outcomes, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Pancreatic Cancer Cure: Media hype vs the true cost of hope.
Last few weeks, my feed was flooded with this: ‘Spanish scientists cure pancreatic cancer. 100% remission. No resistance.’
I read the actual paper. The work by Barbacid et al. is genuinely remarkable. They tested a triple therapy that blocks KRAS, EGFR, and STAT3 simultaneously. Tumors gone. No resistance for 200+ days.
In mice. Rather than a ready drug, this is a proof of concept that tells us that pancreatic cancer cannot outlast a therapy that simultaneously dismantles all three of its core survival mechanisms.
But the authors were clear: ‘We are not yet in a position to carry out clinical trials.’
That part didn’t make the headline.
As someone who works for patients with pancreatic cancer, it is hard to read these stories knowing who is on the other end
- patients with stage IV pancreatic cancer,
- families who haven’t slept in weeks,
- people who will call their doctor asking about this cure they just read on the news.
The gap between what science actually said and what the news headline promised doesn’t hurt the journalists who wrote it.
The cost is quietly paid by those who were already carrying the heaviest burden.”
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