[melling]

“died on Dec. 27, 20 months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was 63.”

A form of cancer where we have made almost zero progress. What’s it going to take to get more research?

It has already been 10 years: https://www.cmu.edu/randyslecture/

[ekianjo]

Problem is also that it is not easy to diagnose in early stages, so you end up with most patients diagnosed in stage 4.

[Gatsky]

It's a difficult problem etc etc

The real answer is that the life sciences are currently in a medieval phase. It's like doing physics without algebra or calculus. We should certainly not expect any regular progress. It is extraordinarily inefficient.

[pvaldes]

I understand what you are trying to say. Yes. This is a sort of a dark age for all science related. A few well supported islands in an ocean of hostile politics

[hprotagonist]

it’s not like people aren’t trying. it’s just a real bastard of a disease.

[melling]

I didn’t say people weren’t trying. I was asking for more research. Pancreatic cancer is not generously funded. Most would argue that it’s underfunded.

https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/cancer-funding-doe...

https://www.cancer.org/research/currently-funded-cancer-rese...

[gone35]

It's not just funding.

For one, the dynamics of the known molecular pathways involved are complex [1], and so far non-trivial to manipulate.

Furthermore, even with an actionable mechanism, targeting the tumor itself is highly non-trivial, due to physiology alone. (See e.g. [2]).

[1] http://www.jcancer.org/v07p1497.htm

[2] http://www.nature.com/articles/nrclinonc.2016.119