Large-scale European review suggests disparity in symptom recognition and treatment for mPAC

Ireland-headquartered rare diseases specialist Shire (LSE: SHP) today revealed results from a retrospective review of more than 2,500 patient records with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas (mPAC) from nine countries.

The results – presented at the 20th European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer 2018 (ESMO-GI) in Barcelona – showed variation across Europe in the symptoms reported at initial diagnosis, and in treatment decisions made in the first-line and second-line metastatic settings. The research suggests that enhanced recognition of symptoms and a standardized treatment approach, especially in the second-line setting, may help improve diagnosis, patient care and outcomes.

“Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is typically diagnosed late in the course of the disease, when outcomes are generally poor,” said Floris de Jong, global medical franchise lead solid tumors at Shire Pharmaceuticals. “These analyses from patient records and NAPOLI-1 collectively provide important new insights for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with this difficult-to-treat cancer. Specifically, the results of the retrospective review indicate that enhanced awareness of, and attention to symptoms both by health care providers and the public at large may help improve mPAC diagnosis, care and outcomes,” he noted.