Sarah Lyness of Cancer Research UK said more research into cancers that have shown little progress such as lung, stomach, oesophageal, pancreas and brain cancer was urgently needed.

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Cancer of the pancreas is usually detected late and patients usually live for six months after diagnosis.

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Wilko Johnson, former guitarist with 1970s British rock band Dr Feelgood, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer of the pancreas.

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After waiting a week for an urgent scan, Mrs Smith decided to pay for a private scan on 27 March, which showed her cancer of the pancreas was advanced.

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Pancreatic cancer develops from the cells within the pancreas, a gland located high up in the abdomen just behind the stomach.

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But Bristol-Myers hopes to vastly expand this market by testing Erbitux for numerous additional types of cancer, including tumors of the lung, pancreas and head and neck.

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He has pioneered the use of technology to study cancer-associated genes and to construct animal models of many human cancer types, including cancers of the lung, pancreas, brain, and ovaries.

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In the study, Fleming and colleagues monitored 285 cancer patients who had surgery to remove some or all of the pancreas.

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It is a rare type of cancer called pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor that afflicts the hormone producing islet cells in the pancreas.

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