Vaccine targeting pancreatic cancer shows promise in new study of clinical trial

When a routine scan led to Barbara Brigham's pancreatic cancer diagnosis in 2020, all she could think about was how she wanted more time. Her husband had just passed away. She loved her local library job. Her three children were still growing their own families. 

She turned to her care team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to learn about her options. Brigham had first come to the cancer center when she was diagnosed with a small, non-cancerous cyst on her pancreas. Every year, she had a scan to make sure there were no new cysts. It was that annual scan that found the early-stage pancreatic cancer.  

Brigham and her youngest son went to Sloan-Kettering the next day to meet with Dr. Vinod Balachandran, a surgical oncologist who specializes in pancreatic cancer. While laying out her options to fight the cancer, he mentioned that he was running a clinical trial that he believed she would be the "perfect candidate" for.