If a stage-4 patient has already been told, "There is nothing else I can do" by his oncologist, and the patient has elected to stop conventional treatment and accept services by Hospice, I see "little harm" in trying an alternative treatment.

* "little harm" in this context means compared to the side effects of a chemotherapy regimen the patient has been unable to tolerate, or compared to letting pancreatic cancer take its course without treatment, and assumes the alternative treatment has some known pharmacokinetics and safety profile.

DISCLAIMER: I have ZERO medical training.

Some western doctors seem to suffer from "CDD" (Curiosity Deficit Disorder). Oncologists in North America are very tightly constrained in terms of what they're allowed to say without putting a license and a career at risk. Anecdotal evidence is the closest thing to no evidence at all, but I personally believe anecdotal evidence should provide motive to follow up with trials seeking definitive scientific evidence. Unfortunately, pharmaceutical companies are unlikely to fund trials for generic, off-patent drugs, creating the Catch-22 of stagnation of research into drugs and methods with potential.

I have personally tried Ivermectin (approved for human use) in very small doses in conjunction with my chemo, based on a paper which reported a synergistic effect in vitro and "in vivo" (mice infected with human PDAC lines) when combined with Gemcitabine. My scans and CA19-9 appear to have remained stable during the time I tried this, and my CA19-9 has exploded since I stopped. I'll have new scans soon that will reveal more data. If there is definitive evidence of disease progression at that time, and I can't get into an appropriate clinical trial, then I plan to begin taking larger doses of Ivermectin until something else comes along. Weekly blood tests are part of my ongoing care, so we'll know in short order if there are any problematic side effects. Depending on the outcome of 2-3 months of Ivermectin, I will consider adding Mebendazole (approved for human use) to it, unless I'm admitted to a clinical trial.

At this point in my life, I've had 3 surgeries, radiation, and close to 60 rounds of soul-destroying, week-in-bed chemo with only moderate disease control and nothing close to a cure, including a world-class clinical trial last year driven by some of the best science and scientists in the world that completely failed. If I can't get into another meaningful trial, I see little for myself to lose by trying alternative snake oils and quackery (as long as I'm in control over my spending and monitoring my bloodwork) compared to letting cancer take its course. I would rather provide another anecdotal data point (and honestly report its success/failure) for scientists and other patients to consider than just fade into the night as another statistic for standard-of-care treatment.