Cancer causes nearly one in six deaths worldwide every year, some 10 million all told. That is a stunning number, but it also masks the reality that some cancers are more deadly than others. We have become remarkably good at detecting and treating melanoma and prostate cancer, for example, and today five-year survival rates for those cancers are well over 90% in most rich countries. Others, such as pancreatic cancer, are more difficult. In the UK, just over one in 20 people with pancreatic cancer are still alive five years after diagnosis.

That is why a new drug for pancreatic cancer, called daraxonrasib and announced at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (Asco) annual meeting in Chicago at the weekend, has been met with such jubilation. The drug – taken as a pill once a day – doubled the survival time of those enrolled in a 500-person trial, with fewer side effects compared to traditional chemotherapy. The drug works by shutting down a protein, Kras, that causes cancer cells to grow and divide. One longtime cancer researcher reported that she cried reading the results. With so few effective treatments for this cancer available, the drug is likely to be a real game-changer.

But as with any news from cancer research, it can be hard to make sense of all of this; for those wondering if we’re making progress, and what it all means for their loved ones and themselves. Sometimes we hear overly optimistic talk about a potential “cure” or eradication. Other times that we will never have a successful “moonshot” for cancer. I’m going to try to unpick where we’re at – and give you the good, the bad and the ugly.

First, cancer is not one disease: it describes a broad group of conditions that have a similar basis – namely uncontrolled cell growth and the ability of these kinds of malignant cells to attack tissues........

© The Guardian