Biotechs with Evolving Therapies Have Potential to Revolutionize Treatments for Pancreatic Cancer
FinancialNewsMedia.com News Commentary - The pancreatic cancer treatment market is fiercely competitive. To maintain the escalating market competition, the market participants are implementing methods including increased R&D spending, mergers, acquisitions, and product developments
PALM BEACH, Fla., Nov. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- FinancialNewsMedia.com News Commentary - The pancreatic cancer treatment market is fiercely competitive. To maintain the escalating market competition, the market participants are implementing methods including increased R&D spending, mergers, acquisitions, and product developments. While every disease has unique characteristics and challenges, pancreatic cancer can be particularly difficult to treat. Research teams around the world are working to uncover novel ways to attack this disease. Every day doctors learn more about how new treatments, such as immunotherapies, could help treat pancreatic cancer more effectively. An article from Johns Hopkins in hopkinsmedical.org, said: "Johns Hopkins surgical oncologist Kelly Lafaro, M.D., M.P.H., explains what makes pancreatic cancer so challenging and why immunotherapy may result in treatment improvements in the near future. According to Lafaro, curing pancreatic cancer means completely eliminating all cancer from the body. "In order to do this we have to address two fronts: the tumor itself as well as any microscopic cells throughout the body." Active biotech and pharma companies in the markets this week include Oncolytics Biotech® Inc. (NASDAQ: ONCY) (TSX: ONC), Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: MACK), NeuroBo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: NRBO), Merck (NYSE: MRK), TransCode Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: RNAZ).
It said that comprehensive pancreatic cancer treatment must address the following: Local Disease & Systemic Disease. It added: "Local disease: This refers to the primary tumor in the pancreas, and is called Stage 1. If caught at an early stage, surgery (sometimes with chemotherapy after surgery) may effectively win this battle, completely removing all signs of cancer. Systemic disease: Pancreatic cancer cells can spread — undetected — to other parts of the body. At some point, cells shed off of a pancreatic tumor, enter the blood stream and circulate throughout the body. Some of these cells may spread or metastasize to other organs such as the liver or lungs. This spreading can happen before patients show symptoms. Lafaro refers to these cells as "seeds" of metastatic disease. "Just as the wind blows and spreads dandelion seeds, new ones can grow great distances away. Even though at first the seeds are in the ground and you cannot see them, they are there and ultimately will grow given the appropriate conditions," she says. Because doctors can't always detect this microscopic disease at first, it can be much more difficult to fight. Until recently, combinations of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery were only somewhat effective at treating systemic pancreatic cancer (cancer that has spread or metastasized to other parts of the body). Today, researchers are focused on developing biological therapies that are more targeted in how they attack pancreatic cancer cells."
Oncolytics Biotech® Inc. (NASDAQ: ONCY) (TSX: ONC) BREAKING NEWS: Oncolytics Biotech® Presents Updated Clinical Data at SITC Annual Meeting Showing a 69% Objective Response Rate and Confirmed Complete Response in GOBLET Study's Pancreatic Cancer Cohort - Oncolytics Biotech® today announced updated results from the phase 1/2 GOBLET study's first-line advanced/metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cohort. Patients in this cohort are treated with the combination of pelareorep, Roche's anti-PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab, and the chemotherapeutic agents gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel. The updated data are featured in a poster presentation at the ongoing Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 37th Annual Meeting, which is taking place both virtually and in-person at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in Boston, MA.
