Ábalos takes the floor in the final stretch of the trial over the masks

The study led by chemist Mariano Barbacid in which he announced an effective experimental treatment against pancreatic cancer in mice has been withdrawn by the journal of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States. Those responsible for the publication had been analyzing the case since February, and have decided to withdraw the entire study because neither Barbacid, nor their colleagues Carmen Guerra and Vasiliki Liaki reported that they are co-owners with other partners of the company Vega Oncotargets, founded to develop new therapies against pancreatic cancer. This is “a relevant conflict of interest not declared at the time of presentation,” the magazine's editors point out. Barbacid heads the Experimental Oncology group at the National Cancer Research Center (CNIO). Carmen Guerra is one of the prominent researchers in her group, and Vasiliki Liaki, a postdoctoral researcher in the same team. The withdrawn work was published on December 2, 2025 in the journal of the United States National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), after the prestigious journal Nature rejected it. As Barbacid is a member of this American Academy, it had the right to publish its works on a fast track basis, with a more lax review. Barbacid has not responded to this newspaper's contact attempts by phone and email. His collaborator Carmen Guerra has acknowledged by phone that they made a “screw up” when sending their message.