Derek Thompson

Recently, a team of scientists at Oregon Health and Science University claimed to have developed a blood test that is 85% accurate at early stage detection of pancreatic cancer. This is absolutely critical given how advanced the cancer typically is by the time it's caught. And last month, a research center at Memorial Sloan Kettering published a truly extraordinary paper

Recently, a team of scientists at Oregon Health and Science University claimed to have developed a blood test that is 85% accurate at early stage detection of pancreatic cancer. This is absolutely critical given how advanced the cancer typically is by the time it's caught. And last month, a research center at Memorial Sloan Kettering published a truly extraordinary paper

Recently, a team of scientists at Oregon Health and Science University claimed to have developed a blood test that is 85% accurate at early stage detection of pancreatic cancer. This is absolutely critical given how advanced the cancer typically is by the time it's caught. And last month, a research center at Memorial Sloan Kettering published a truly extraordinary paper

Using mRNA technology similar to the COVID vaccines, a team of scientists designed a personalized therapy to buff up the immune systems of people with pancreatic cancer. Patients who responded to this treatment, this cancer vaccine, saw results that boggled the mind. 75% of the responders were cancer-free three years after their initial treatment.

Using mRNA technology similar to the COVID vaccines, a team of scientists designed a personalized therapy to buff up the immune systems of people with pancreatic cancer. Patients who responded to this treatment, this cancer vaccine, saw results that boggled the mind. 75% of the responders were cancer-free three years after their initial treatment.

Using mRNA technology similar to the COVID vaccines, a team of scientists designed a personalized therapy to buff up the immune systems of people with pancreatic cancer. Patients who responded to this treatment, this cancer vaccine, saw results that boggled the mind. 75% of the responders were cancer-free three years after their initial treatment.

Not just alive, mind you, which would be its own minor miracle, but cancer-free. The vaccine, administered within a regimen of standard drugs, stood up to the deadliest cancer of them all and seemed to have won. And today's guest is the head of that research center, the surgical oncologist Vinod Balachandran. The concept of a personalized cancer vaccine is still unproven at scale.

Not just alive, mind you, which would be its own minor miracle, but cancer-free. The vaccine, administered within a regimen of standard drugs, stood up to the deadliest cancer of them all and seemed to have won. And today's guest is the head of that research center, the surgical oncologist Vinod Balachandran. The concept of a personalized cancer vaccine is still unproven at scale.

Not just alive, mind you, which would be its own minor miracle, but cancer-free. The vaccine, administered within a regimen of standard drugs, stood up to the deadliest cancer of them all and seemed to have won. And today's guest is the head of that research center, the surgical oncologist Vinod Balachandran. The concept of a personalized cancer vaccine is still unproven at scale.

But if it works, the potential is enormous. Because again, cancer does not exist as a singular disease. Cancer is a category of rare diseases, many of which are exquisitely specific to the molecular mosaic of the patient. Cancers are personal. And perhaps in a few years, our cures for cancers will be equally personalized. I'm Derek Thompson. This is Plain English.

But if it works, the potential is enormous. Because again, cancer does not exist as a singular disease. Cancer is a category of rare diseases, many of which are exquisitely specific to the molecular mosaic of the patient. Cancers are personal. And perhaps in a few years, our cures for cancers will be equally personalized. I'm Derek Thompson. This is Plain English.

But if it works, the potential is enormous. Because again, cancer does not exist as a singular disease. Cancer is a category of rare diseases, many of which are exquisitely specific to the molecular mosaic of the patient. Cancers are personal. And perhaps in a few years, our cures for cancers will be equally personalized. I'm Derek Thompson. This is Plain English.

Vinod Balachandran, welcome to the show.

Vinod Balachandran, welcome to the show.

Vinod Balachandran, welcome to the show.

I'd love you to help me understand why pancreatic cancer is so lethal from the perspective of an oncologist. So we have thrown billions and billions of dollars into cancer research and clinical trials, and pancreatic cancer deaths are just going up. Why has the scientific cavalry failed to make a dent in this cancer?

I'd love you to help me understand why pancreatic cancer is so lethal from the perspective of an oncologist. So we have thrown billions and billions of dollars into cancer research and clinical trials, and pancreatic cancer deaths are just going up. Why has the scientific cavalry failed to make a dent in this cancer?

I'd love you to help me understand why pancreatic cancer is so lethal from the perspective of an oncologist. So we have thrown billions and billions of dollars into cancer research and clinical trials, and pancreatic cancer deaths are just going up. Why has the scientific cavalry failed to make a dent in this cancer?

Let's tell this story then. In oncology, you have these waves of treatment as you describe them, chemotherapy, then targeted therapy, then immunotherapy. I think most people know about chemotherapy, but pick up the story there. What is targeted therapy and immunotherapy and how have those frontiers failed in the quest to take on pancreatic cancer?

Let's tell this story then. In oncology, you have these waves of treatment as you describe them, chemotherapy, then targeted therapy, then immunotherapy. I think most people know about chemotherapy, but pick up the story there. What is targeted therapy and immunotherapy and how have those frontiers failed in the quest to take on pancreatic cancer?