Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (panNET) are among the rarest forms of pancreatic cancer, accounting for only about 2% of reported cases. In general, the prognosis for pancreatic cancer is poor, but new research out of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center indicates that the drug everolimus (Afinitor®) can extend the time of progression-free survival. The study compared patients treated with everolimus with patients treated with a placebo. The latter group had a median progression-free survival of 4.6 months, whereas the everolimus group had 11.0 months. These results show a 65% reduced risk of cancer progression or death. Everolimus also exhibited only a low degree of adverse effects, which offers hope of extending both advanced panNET patients’ length and quality of life.
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