Zhi-Ren Liu, a biology professor in the College of Arts & Sciences at Georgia State University, has received a two-year, $2 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to develop a new drug for pancreatic cancer, which has a five-year survival rate of just 7 percent.

Pancreatic cancer is so lethal in part because it’s difficult for conventional drugs to penetrate the dense fibrotic stroma — thickened, scar-like tissue that surrounds the tumor, protecting it and helping it grow. This new drugs is more effective at penetrating that tissue. Conventional treatments just deliver the anti-cancer drug.

The grant will fund toxicology and pharmacokinetic studies that are required to move the drug to early-stage clinical trials.

While pancreatic cancer survival rates have been improving from decade to decade, the disease is still considered largely incurable. According to the American Cancer Society, for all stages of pancreatic cancer combined, the one-year relative survival rate is 20%, and the five-year rate is 7%.

The pancreas secretes enzymes that aid digestion and hormones that help regulate the metabolism of sugars. This type of cancer is often detected late, spreads rapidly, and has a poor prognosis.

There are no symptoms in the early stages. Later stages are associated with symptoms, but these can be non-specific, such as lack of appetite and weight loss.

Treatment may include surgically removing the pancreas, radiation, and chemotherapy.

Scientists don't know exactly what causes most pancreatic cancers, but they have found several risk factors that can make a person more likely to get this disease. Some of these risk factors affect the DNA of cells in the pancreas, which can result in abnormal cell growth and may cause tumors to form.

In the United States, the American Cancer Society reports that approximately 48,960 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and about 40,560 people die from the disease each year.