Luke O’Neill told The Pat Kenny Show, that new cancer treatments are extending patients lifespans

There is good news for pancreatic and ovarian cancer treatment which are some of the most aggressive cancers. 

Usually, once the diagnosis is processed, it means the stage of the cancer is quite advanced. 

A new trial has shown a doubling of the survival time for pancreatic cancer. Usually, patients have 7 months left following a diagnosis. This trial extends this to 14 months. 

Dr O’Neill told The Pat Kenny Show, that it would have a ‘big effect on people’.

The drug called Daroxanrazib, targets the RAS gene, often found to have mutated in cancer. 

“This drug really blocks RAS. That's why they think it's so effective.

“If you knock it down, the cancer stops growing. It’s unprecedented for pancreatic cancer. 

“Lots of patients were given the drug and they see this doubling in survival. That gives us huge confidence that it really works.”

One of the first people to undergo treatment on the drug was former Republican Senator Ben Sass who said that while his tumours decreased by 76% in the first week, he got rashes as a side effect from the drug. 

Dr O’Neill said it was “quite surprising” that the breakthrough treatment for ovarian cancer was previously used for Cushing’s disease (a condition where the patient produces too much cortisol). 

The drug, called Relacortisant, worked for both illnesses and allowed for a 36% reduction of death for ovarian cancer. 

Dr Luke O’Neill told the Pat Kenny Show that while these results were encouraging, researchers were hoping to get even better ones. 

“A drug called Mo-Rez got a 62% response rate,which meant 62% of people responded really well. 

“Their tumors shrank, Pat, and were eliminated with ovarian cancer. 

“There's been a few ideas around this already in the past. This is probably the first example of it really working. Cancer is becoming a chronic disease.”