Dr. Suneel Kamath is an assistant professor of medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, in Ohio.

Dr. Suneel Kamath

In recognition of Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, Dr. Suneel Kamath discussed the importance of directing support toward cancers with the unmet needs.

Shining a Light on Pancreatic Cancer Progress and Support 

Raising awareness for pancreatic cancer is essential for increasing attention, funding and advocacy toward a disease that continues to have limited treatment options and challenging outcomes, according to Dr. Suneel Kamath.

In recognition of Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month this November, Kamath sat down for an interview with CURE, where he discussed the importance of directing greater support toward cancers with the greatest unmet needs. He works in Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology at the Cleveland Clinic, in Ohio, where he also is an assistant professor of medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University.

What is the importance of recognizing Liver Cancer Awareness Month and similar awareness initiatives, and what key message would you most want patients to take from these efforts?

For pancreatic cancer, maybe due to the more aggressive nature of it and the worse outcomes that we see, it often doesn't get as much attention in the media and advocacy and things like that. I think this month is so critical to turn our attention to something that truly needs our focus.

One thing I'm very passionate about is looking at where we tend to target our funding from the federal perspective and from an advocacy perspective. Unfortunately, what we often see is that our federal dollars from the NIH and the NCI, and a lot of where donations go as well, often go to cancers where outcomes are already very good. You know, there are a lot of good narratives out there, a lot of people that can tell their story of success and hope and everything, and so people want to target our funding and support there.

We almost need to flip that whole mindset 180 degrees around. If anything, the diseases that need the most help are where we need to target our funding and our support. I think this month is so important for doing that. It's a way to highlight that there is a great need, that this is still a deadly cancer, but there is hope. There is progress being made. There are a lot of new things on the horizon, coming about.

I do think that by raising awareness about those hopeful directions, we can start to change those tough outcomes that we often see in this disease, because the time, the money, the support, the effort today, will lead to those better outcomes in 10 and 20 years and into the future.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

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Dr. Suneel Kamath discusses the ALASCCA study in colorectal cancer and highlighted the importance of next-generation sequencing and testing.

Breaking Down The Importance of Targeted Therapies in Colorectal Cancer Care

Comprehensive biomarker testing is essential for guiding cancer care treatment, including colorectal cancer, for example, according to Dr. Suneel Kamath. According to data from the ALASCCA study, which was shared at the 2025 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, low-dose aspirin after surgery significantly improved recurrence rates in patients with colorectal cancer who had PI3K mutations.

Although this benefit was only observed in patients with this specific genetic alteration, PI3K mutations are relatively common, affecting more than one-third of patients. However, biomarker testing for such mutations is not routinely performed, particularly in earlier-stage cancers, Kamath emphasized.

In an interview with CURE®, Kamath discussed the outcomes of the ALASCCA study for patients with colorectal cancer, as well as highlighted the importance of utilizing targeted therapeutic options for patients with cancer and the need for next-generation sequencing and testing.

Kamath is an assistant professor of medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, in Ohio.

The big thing is to make sure that you get testing done. The ALASCCA study, in particular, is very interesting because it was taking a relatively low dose of aspirin after surgery for patients with colon cancer, and it showed a very significant improvement in recurrence rate. The recurrence rate was almost 12% better — which is a substantial number for — but it was only for people who had a particular genetic mutation, these PI3K mutations. However, it's not a rare target; more than a third of people have it.

The reason I bring this one up, in particular, is that for people with earlier stages of cancer — the study was mostly for stage two and three cancers — we don't usually do this type of biomarker testing. There are a couple more limited ones that are done, like MSI, but this particular protein or marker would not have been looked for [in] most people. This speaks to the fact that we need to be doing biomarker testing and genomic sequencing, which is often called next generation sequencing. We need to be doing this for patients at all stages of cancer, as it can [change treatment] outcomes. This was a very benign treatment, with again, low-dose aspirin. The benefit was bigger than we [have seen] with chemo. The usual chemotherapies we give in the setting work less well than just aspirin did, according to the study.

Across the board, we should be doing more biomarker and next-generation sequencing testing for people. For the most part, if a target is found, most oncologists will know what to do about it, and how to treat it. It can become easy ... to give the things that are not targeted and don't need a specific test to identify. Sometimes, we can forget that those tests were not done, so the most important thing making sure the testing is done. If we find those targets, we'll know what to do about it.

For more news on cancer updates, research and education,

Dr. Suneel Kamath

Shining a Light on Pancreatic Cancer Progress and Support

Breaking Down The Importance of Targeted Therapies in Colorectal Cancer Care

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