The pancreas is located in the middle of a person’s belly, surrounded by other vital organs like the liver and stomach. This both makes it extremely hard for surgeons to remove the tumor and easier for it to metastasize and spread. Chemotherapy–which sends toxic drugs throughout the body to reach the tumor site–is still often the only option, and it’s not even very effective because pancreatic tumors have few blood vessels to take up the drugs. “To me, it seems very counterintuitive to have a whole body treatment to target a specific organ,” says CEO Dr. Laura Indolfi.