LOAd703, an oncolytic virus-based immunostimulatory gene therapy, combined with chemotherapy for unresectable or metastatic pancreatic cancer (LOKON001): results from arm 1 of a non-randomised, single-centre, phase 1/2 study.

Summary: Pancreatic cancer is very hard to treat because it hides from the body's immune system. Scientists recently tested a new treatment called LOAd703, which is a special virus designed to infect and kill only cancer cells. In this study, doctors gave this virus to 21 patients along with their regular chemotherapy. The good news? The treatment was safe, and the patients' immune systems woke up to fight the cancer. Most side effects were mild, like a fever or feeling tired. Because it is safe, doctors can now keep testing this promising new virus treatment to see exactly how well it works against the disease.