Pancreatic Cancer Research at TGen Gets $18 Million Infusion

How bad is pancreatic cancer? Ninety percent of people who find out they have it die within a year. And the pancreas isn't even a brand-name digestive organ, like the kidney or liver. The ghastly statistic is one reason the gene-science gurus at TGen in Phoenix are major recipients in $74 million of gifts being distributed...

By Ray Stern

May 27, 2009

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How bad is pancreatic cancer? Ninety percent of people who find out they have it die within a year. And the pancreas isn't even a brand-name digestive organ, like the kidney or liver.

The ghastly statistic is one reason the gene-science gurus at TGen in Phoenix are major recipients in $74 million of gifts being distributed nationwide by the Stand Up to Cancer foundation. TGen's getting $18 million.

What's great about this foundation is the aim to put research into practice -- and make patients well -- ASAP. The research conducted by TGen with its share of the gifts will be tried out at Scottsdale Healthcare at Shea hospital.

TGen says its role will be to:

...launch a series of innovative clinical trials in advanced pancreatic cancer. These clinical trials will be designed to deprive pancreatic tumors of crucial nutrients, thereby cutting off the fuel supply.

Sounds like a plan.

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Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.