After genetic testing revealed a germline genetic mutation driving my pancreatic cancer, I enrolled in a clinical trial targeting the BRCA2 mutation and now the longest pancreatic patient in the world on it at 10 years 8 months and coming up on 13 years survival of stage IV.

There are several methods to search for clinical trials; the easiest way is to contact the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (#PanCAN.org) and speak with a case manager by calling 877.272.6226, M-F, 7:00am-5:00pm PT. The service is free. There are other clinical trial sites that are self serve and the most comprehensive one is clinicaltrials.gov. LetsWinPC.org and TriCanHealth.com have trial finders specific only to pancreatic cancer making a self-search a bit easier.

Two other search firms are ancora.ai and my tomorrows.com. They start off as self-search but have a method to then contact personnel to answer questions and narrow down the search.

Immunotherapies are the future for cancer treatment. While it works for other types of cancers, pancreatic cancer is the exception because it has immunologically cold tumors making the tumors difficult to be recognized by one’s immune system cells. Researchers have recently found methods to convert immunologically cold tumors to immunologically hot tumors that can then be seen by immune system cells such as dendritic cells and tumor infiltrating lymphocytes. There were a number of presentations at the recent American Academy of Clinical Research (AACR) meeting last month and there will be a section on immunotherapies at the upcoming American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting the end of this.

Dendritic cell vaccine therapy is an area of increasing focus…particularly in pancreatic cancer. With pancreatic cancer, the US has been behind in developing clinical trials. Some laboratories are using dendritic cell therapy techniques for pancreatic cancer. Germany is a leader and a laboratory founded by Frank Gansuage MD-PhD is treating pancreatic cancer patients. I have spoken to a Canadian patient who has achieved N.E.D. a year after receiving therapy at LDG Laboratories. This technique is not covered by insurance. Someone recently inquired as to the procedure and the price. It takes about 12-14 days in Germany and the price starts at around €17,000/USD $19,290. Dr.Gansauge replies quickly to inquires. Read the information on the website first for more background on the procedure as many questions will be answered there.

Look into. LDG Laboratories/ Dr. Frank Ganssuge
info@labor-gansauge.de

+49.(0) 8151 368.6983

Website: https://labor-gansauge.de

They are in Berg, Germany near Munich.

This is considerably less than Intertumoral immunotherapy offered at the Williams Cancer Clinic in Cabo San Lucas (not yet FDA approved and why the procedure is being done in a clinic there) and Cryosurgery to stimulate a dendritic cell vaccine response by Gary Onik, MD. Dr. Onik is the principal investigator of a phase II clinical trial for patients with solid tumors including pancreatic. The trials which are closed to enrollment as they are being completed now are in Miami Lakes, FL and Scottsdale, AZ. Results may be available later this year and possibly an expanded trial will be conducted. The procedure is available as fee-based and not covered by insurance as yet. The cost for the hospital procedure and the interventional cryosurgical procedure is $135,000.