Every year over 40,000 in the United States and about 70,000 in Europe are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. For 85% of them, their condition was detected too late to be treated by surgery.
With a global 5 year survival rate of about 5–9%, pancreatic cancer is the third deadliest form of cancer, taking more lives than both breast cancer, prostate cancer and leukemia. And it strikes fast, with a median survival time of less than 5 months in Europe.
Early diagnosis in stage I or II is our best chance of fighting this terrible disease, because it is more likely to be treated by surgery before it has had time to spread. Unfortunately, the late onset of symptoms often make it difficult to detect pancreatic cancer in the earlier stages.
According to the American Cancer Society, the mortality rate for patients diagnosed with PDAC (pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma), at late stages III and IV is as high as 97%, but if the disease is detected early at stages I or II the 5 year survival rate is up to 49%. However, currently only about 11% of patients are diagnosed at stage I or II, while 52% of patients are not diagnosed until stages III or IV. Immunovia’s research and development is focused on early detection of PDAC (stage I & II) to support clinician interventions and treatments that can improve patient survival and outcome.
American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts and Figures 2021. Available at https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/annual-cancer-facts-and-figures/2021/cancer-facts-and-figures-2021.pdf
