WASTED

A Spanish scientist is getting attention online for work that actually matters. Dr. Mariano Barbacid led research showing a major breakthrough against the most common type of pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest cancers to treat.

His team used a three-drug combination to attack the cancer from multiple angles. In lab mice designed to closely mimic human disease, the treatment eliminated tumors completely, showed low toxicity, and didn’t recur. Experts say human trials are still years out, but for a cancer that kills over 10,000 people a year in Spain alone, the results are being called extremely promising. Barbacid, who helped discover the RAS cancer gene in 1982, says this could be a real step toward changing outcomes for a disease with one of the worst survival rates.