DL10A Patient-centric Approach to Pancreatic Cancer Research: the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Experience

The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) set the goal of doubling survival from pancreatic cancer by 2020 almost a decade ago. During this time, several initiatives were put in place to directly assist patients today and to support research to help the patients of tomorrow. Through the Patient Central call center, pancreatic cancer patients receive critical information to assist with their care, search for clinical trials for which they are eligible, participate in a Patient Registry, connect with patients or caregivers with similar experiences, or enroll in the Know Your Tumor (KYT) molecular profiling service. Now that more than 1000 patients have received KYT reports, the outcomes indicate that patients that receive therapies targeted to tumor-specific molecular alterations experience significant improvements in progression-free survival and overall survival compared to control groups. Subset analysis also reveals benefits for individuals with defects in DNA damage repair pathway genes who are treated with a platinum-containing regimen. PanCAN's experience with the challenges and benefits of implementing a nation-wide patient support and molecular profiling effort, including cost-effectiveness analysis and examples of extraordinary responses, will be presented. Further advances in improving patient outcomes are anticipated to come from the Precision Promise adaptive clinical trial platform and an Early Detection Initiative, both of which are in the planning stages. The 5-year relative survival rate for pancreatic cancer in the USA has climbed from 6% to 9% over the past decade, building a foundation upon which further, substantive improvements in survival can be realized in future years.