What’s new in treatment of pancreatic cancer: a patent review (2010–2017)

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most lethal cancers, with a median overall survival of less than 1 year and a 5-year survival of ~5%. The poor survival rate is likely due to lack of early diagnosis, fast disease course, high metastasis rate and disappointing treatment outcome. Therefore, at this stage, any new method that provides a treatment against PC without the undesirable side effects of chemotherapy and radiation is urgently needed.

Areas covered: This review summarizes the latest advances in the treatment of PC through the patents published from 2010 to 2017. The patents reviewed include both new combinations of existing drugs and novel structures. New targets are proposed for developing new drugs.

Expert opinion: The patents reviewed entail different approaches which, on the one hand, improve the administration of existing drugs and therapies and, on the other, develop new drugs to act on novel targets. However, most of the new methods are in the first stage of development and need to be tested in vivo, in pre-clinical approaches and in clinical trials. Therefore, further assays will help confirm the activity, mechanisms of action, drug-drug interactions and other aspects that make a compound a good antitumoral agent.

KEYWORDS:

• Cancer drug targets
• cancer therapy
• novel compounds
• pancreatic cancer
• patent
• personalized medicine

Article highlights

• Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most lethal cancers, with a median overall survival of less than 1 year and a 5-year survival of ~5%. PC is a multifactorial disease making it difficult to treat using conventional antitumoral therapy, so novel innovative options should be sought with an open mind.

• Despite great efforts and the numerous studies performed, the treatment of PC is far from satisfactory at present.

• One aspect developed by new therapies is the improved ability to reach and deliver anti-tumor agents into the tumor through nanoparticles, viral vehicles or other devices.

• Novel anti-tumor agents are focuses on eliminating the cancer cell populations and CSCs, improving the immune response to the tumor and preventing recurrence.

• Personalized medicine in the treatment of PC promises good results soon.

• Further clinical trials are urgently needed to prove the effectiveness of the latest patented therapies.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by grants from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO, FEDER funds, grant number MAT2015-62644.C2.2.R), from the Chair ‘Doctors Galera-Requena in cancer stem cell research’ and from internal funds of Fundación MEDINA.