Doctors think they have found a combination of medications that will help pancreatic cancer patients live longer.

Dr. Malcolm Moore of Toronto's Princess Margaret Hospital puts the find into context this way: "It's the first time in 10 years that we've seen anything with the ability to move up survival."

Laurence Haughton is a person diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He'd never heard of it before -- or the fact that most patients die within three to six months of diagnosis.

In fact, of the 3,400 people in Canada who are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in a given year, 3,300 die.

"It's an insidious silent killer," says Dr. Sharlene Gill of the B.C. Cancer Agency.

In a bid to help patients extend their lives, researchers conducted a study using a drug called Tarceva, normally used to treat lung cancer.

In the study of 560 patients, 17 per cent -- about one in six -- lived a year with standard chemotherapy. Almost one in four lived a year following diagnosis when the standard chemotherapy was supplemented with the drug.

The study's findings were presented at a meeting of international cancer specialists held Saturday in Orlando, Fla.

While the results would be seen as a modest boost for most diseases, they are significant for pancreatic cancer.

"What we're seeing here is that if you combine chemotherapy with new targeted therapies there are glimmers of hope," Moore said.

Because most people die quickly, there has been little public advocacy or disease-specific fundraising.

Laurence Haughton, who was told he would live five months, has now passed the five-year barrier.

"For some reason I am the luckiest guy in the world," he said.

To help others, he has set up a foundation to help raise both awareness and funds for research, saying, "I have the energy and the contacts, and I hope to make a difference."

He says people shouldn't dismiss seemingly small developments like the new drug combination because it provides hope in a disease that often seems hopeless.

With a report from CTV's Avis Favaro