Barbacid explains its hit to pancreatic cancer in mice

Blow to pancreatic cancer: they manage to completely eliminate the tumor in mice with triple therapy

Clamor for Mariano Barbacid to be the next Nobel Prize in Medicine

Mariano Barbaciddirector of the CNIO Experimental Oncology Group, attended this Monday The Anthillwhere he explained the great achievement that he and his team of researchers from the National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) have achieved, who have achieved completely eliminate pancreatic tumors in experimental mouse models using a triple therapeutic combination, a milestone that opens the door to treatments in humans for one of the deadliest cancers.

(PART 1) Doctor Mariano Barbacid, Lola Manterola (@criscancer) and his team have managed to completely eliminate pancreatic cancer in animals #MikaEH pic.twitter.com/4MPKFiL9Lw

— El Hormiguero (@El_Hormiguero) February 2, 2026

“We attacked in two ways and it was the first time that a tumor returned“Barbacid explained. The bad news, however, was that these were “very small tumors and only happened in some cases.”

At this point, they decided that they had to “look for that third way of attack“, something that took them a few years. “We found it, and then we took out all three targets at the same time and the tumors not only disappeared but, most interesting, they don’t come back“.

Specifically, the study, led by Barbacid, focused on pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA), which represents the majority of pancreatic tumors. The results, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) after six years of work, have demonstrated the curative efficacy of a strategy that attacks three key points of the tumor: KRAS, which is the mutation that initiates pancreatic cancer, EGFR and STAT3, proteins involved in cell signaling that promote tumor proliferation, survival and growth.

Researchers have combined the use of RMC-6236, a KRAS inhibitor; afatinib, EGFR inhibitor; and SD36, STAT3 degrader, with which they have achieved induce complete and lasting regression of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma in mouse models in which genetically modified tumor cells were implanted in the pancreas and carrying human cancer cells.

In the mice that were implanted with tumor cells, treatment with the combination of inhibitors made the animals survived without any obvious alteration for at least 250 days. When analyzing their pancreas, no no tumor remainsnor the tissue surrounding the tumor, known as stroma, which allows mice to be defined as tumor free.

After that, they tested the triple therapy in genetically modified mice, with the aim of getting closer to the characteristics of human tumors. All animals reduced their tumor burden with complete regressions in nine of 12 mice, living at least 100 days free of disease and without registering recurrences. In another test, using RMC-6236 as monotherapy, they managed to double survival in all mice, but none survived the treatment.

Finally, the research group injected the tumor from six patients into a total of 18 immunodeficient mice. Although these tumors do not have the same properties as when they were found in patients, they do maintain some of their characteristics. In 16 of the 18 mice treated with triple therapy, the tumor disappearedwithout observing recurrences in 80 of the 120 days that the treatment lasted.

Fundraising to reach humans as soon as possible

In this sense, Barbacid, who attended accompanied by Lola Manterola, from CRIS against cancer. (@criscancer), has announced that “there will be a drug from a San Francisco company that prolongs survival of pancreatic cancer patients,” something that is “a historical milestonein terms of medicine, because it will be the first time a drug works and it is not chemotherapy“.

The problem with this drug, he points out, is that “resistance occurs very quicklythen the tumor grows again. What we have achieved with this route has been that the tumor does not appear again.” However, he has warned that to reach patients “we still have at least two or three years left”.

In this sense, Manterola recalled that CRIS against cancer is open a fundraiser to support Dr. Barbacid’s projectalso a CRIS Contra el Cancer researcher. “He has managed to cure pancreatic cancer in mice and now he needs our support to cure it in people“, they point out from the website, from where they encourage donations to “be able to move forward with this research, patients need us.”

“In order for these great results to reach people, there is still an essential step: guarantee that the strategy proposed by Dr. Barbacid and his team is safe and effective in patients. To carry out this phase of analysis we need to raise 3.5 million euros“, they explain.

(PART 2) Doctor Mariano Barbacid, Lola Manterola (@criscancer) and his team have managed to completely eliminate pancreatic cancer in animals #MikaEH pic.twitter.com/pqNihFK4wL

— El Hormiguero (@El_Hormiguero) February 2, 2026

The process to bring the triple therapy to a clinical trial with humans will be longas it requires financing and progress in the corresponding regulatory processes. If everything progresses at an adequate pace, the researcher is confident that these studies can be underway within three years.

Even so, he has highlighted that the KRAS inhibitor, RMC-6236, also known as daraxonrasib and developed by the biotechnology company Revolution Medicines, could be authorized throughout this year or early 2027. According to studies by this company, the inhibitor used in monotherapy, even in the second line in metastatic tumors, allows a 14 month survivalthus doubling that achieved with chemotherapy regimens.

In Spain, More than 10,300 cases of pancreatic cancer are diagnosed each year and only between eight and 10 percent of patients survive five years after diagnosis.