Nano-carrier drugs for pancreatic cancer now being produced In China

At the Symposium on the Application of Genetic Testing in Individualized Diagnosis and Treatment of Tumor recently held in Tianjin, China, the research team led by Hao Jihui of the Pancreas Oncology Department of Tianjin Medical University Cancer Hospital announced that they had achieved a major breakthrough in the field of nano-carrier drugs for pancreatic cancer.

The new multi-layer hybrid nano-carrier designed by the research team achieves layered carrying of three active pharmaceutical agents, filling the technology gap for the application of a nano-carrier as part of multi-drug treatment of pancreatic cancer. The nano-carrier also greatly improves tumor targeting and the effectiveness of the drug while reducing its toxicities. The research findings were recently published in the prestigious academic journal Advanced Functional Materials.

Pancreatic cancer is the most devastating cancer in clinical terms and is regarded as "the king of cancers" as the five-year survival rate is below 5%. Surgery is the only possible cure for pancreatic cancer at present. But owing to its insidious early symptoms, only 20% patients with pancreatic cancer are considered surgically resectable at the time of diagnosis, while most patients are limited to receiving palliative chemotherapy due to the likelihood of distant metastasis and complications related to localized tumor growth while the side effects of chemotherapy drugs are directly related to the long-term survival of the patients.