Emerging Treatments and Hopeful Advances in Pancreatic Cancer

Dr. Suneel Kamath sat down with us for Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month to discuss advances in treatment and the importance of raising awareness for this aggressive disease.

In the second part of our conversation, he dives deeper into emerging therapies, innovative drug delivery techniques, and the role advocacy plays in improving outcomes. Here’s what he had to say, but don’t forget to catch the first part of his discussion here!

CURE: Looking ahead, what research directions or emerging therapies within the pancreatic cancer treatment landscape do you have your eye on?

Kamath: The KRAS inhibitors and the cancer vaccines are the most exciting, for sure, but I think there are a couple of others that are worth mentioning as well.

The first is cell therapies. These are things that have been developed already for blood-based cancers like lymphomas or leukemias, but I do think that soon we will develop or identify the right targets in cancers like pancreatic cancer, so that we can then engineer someone's natural immune cells or T cells to target the cancer and then fight it that way. So, we are very much in the beginning of that so far, but I do think that that is coming.

The really great thing with immune-based therapies is that there's memory in that. The same way that our immune system protects us against some infections that we had before so we don't get them again, that can happen for cancer as well. If we identify the right target and can keep the immune cells alive for long enough, it won't just work for the few months or so that you're on treatment, but it can keep someone protected for a long period of time. And that's very powerful.

How are these new delivery techniques changing the options for patients who aren’t candidates for surgery?

For people with more localized pancreatic cancer, there are a number of people that, just due to several factors (the location of the tumor or how much it involves certain blood vessels near it) we're not able to do surgery. There's a number of technologies being developed to help us target whether it's chemo or radiation or immune therapies, basically ways that we can get more drug or whatever therapeutic we're trying to deliver into the tumor.

So, that's different catheters, or using different ablation techniques, things like that, cautery techniques. I do think that's a very active space as well. I think it's not talked about as much, but I do think that will make a big difference as well, both for people that can't have surgery for these reasons, or I'm hoping also some of these tools. If we're better able to get our treatments into the tumor, maybe we can convert more people that can't have surgery into the ability to have it and then potentially be cured in remission that way.

I feel like the narrative around pancreatic cancer is often kind of gloomy, and so I think it's exciting now that we do have a lot that's being specifically developed in this disease, and truly looks promising.

What is the importance of recognizing Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month and similar awareness initiatives, and what key message would you most want patients to take from these efforts?

For pancreatic cancer, maybe due to the more aggressive nature of it and the worse outcomes that we see, it often doesn't get as much attention in the media and advocacy and things like that. I think this month is so critical to turn our attention to something that truly needs our focus.

One thing I'm very passionate about is looking at where we tend to target our funding from the federal perspective and from an advocacy perspective. Unfortunately, what we often see is that our federal dollars from the NIH and the NCI, and a lot of where donations go as well, often go to cancers where outcomes are already very good. You know, there are a lot of good narratives out there, a lot of people that can tell their story of success and hope and everything, and so people want to target our funding and support there.

We almost need to flip that whole mindset 180 degrees around. If anything, the diseases that need the most help are where we need to target our funding and our support. I think this month is so important for doing that. It's a way to highlight that there is a great need, that this is still a deadly cancer, but there is hope. There is progress being made. There are a lot of new things on the horizon, coming about.

I do think that by raising awareness about those hopeful directions, we can start to change those tough outcomes that we often see in this disease, because the time, the money, the support, the effort today, will lead to those better outcomes in 10 and 20 years and into the future.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Reference

1. “What Patients Should Know During Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, by Ryan Scott. CURE; Nov. 10, 2025. https://www.curetoday.com/view/shining-a-light-on-pancreatic-cancer-progress-and-support
2. Shining a Light on Pancreatic Cancer Progress and Support, by Dr. Suneel Kamath. CURE; Nov. 7, 2025. https://www.curetoday.com/view/shining-a-light-on-pancreatic-cancer-progress-and-support

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