Cancer

A Grim Diagnosis, but New Science Is Rewriting the Story of Pancreatic Cancer

The day draws nearer when it is no longer "a death sentence."

Ronald Bailey | 4.21.2026 3:45 PM

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Former Sen. Ben Sasse (R–Neb.), who previously served as president of the University of Florida, revealed in late December that he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. "Advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff; it's a death sentence," he observed. He's right. Patients diagnosed at that late stage currently have a five-year survival rate of about 3 percent and often less than a year to live.

Researchers, however, have recently reported some good news about advanced treatments that significantly increase the life expectancy of patients and, in some cases, even appear to cure the illness.

In fact, Sasse is enrolled........

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