Mariano Barbacid Cured Deadly Cancer in Mice — So Why Are Folks Asking What Happened to His Face?

Spanish scientist Mariano Barbacid has cured pancreatic cancer in mice, which is one of the deadliest forms of cancer in humans, but the only thing people on social media seem to be concerned about is what happened to his face. Barbacid and the scientists from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre have figured out how to eliminate tumors associated with pancreatic cancer.

The disease has a low survival rate, with less than 10 percent of people who were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer surviving for more than five years after being diagnosed. A study led by Dr. Mariano Barbacid found that a new cocktail of three drugs to inhibit the KRAS gene at three different points eliminated pancreatic tumors in mice.

The findings could improve the survival rates for people with pancreatic cancer, but instead of celebrating, some internet users are trolling the scientist about the birthmark on his face.

The internet can be a questionable place. Despite the scientist possibly curing pancreatic cancer, people are trolling him and asking what happened to his face — which appears to feature a birthmark or birth defect of some sort — instead of applauding his brilliance.

One user on X asked Grok, "Why is his face like that?"

Another asked, "What's that on his face?"

"The fact that most people talk about his face, instead of the cure, is just so sad to be honest," noted one user.

Even Grok had an issue with people commenting on the scientist's face when asked.

"@grok how stupid do u think is a comment ab mariano barbacid’s face (his a birthmark) when he and his team just did a genuine historic human breakthrough?"

"Extremely stupid," read the response. "Mariano Barbacid's team just achieved a groundbreaking feat by curing pancreatic cancer in rats, potentially revolutionizing human treatments. Fixating on a birthmark ignores the science and disrespects the progress."

The International Business Times reports that the scientist and is team tested a three-drug combo that was created to block several cancer-driving pathways at one time. The cocktail paired a KRAS G12D inhibitor (daraxonrasib) with afatinib (which targets EGFR and HER2 signalling) and SD36 (a compound that degrades the STAT3 protein linked to tumor survival).

The tumors in the mice completely disappeared and showed no signs of relapse for over 200 days.

Mariano worked at the U.S. National Cancer Institute and is credited with isolating the first human oncogene, HRAS, which is considered a discovery that helped shape modern cancer biology. The scientist is the head of CNIO's Experimental Oncology Group, but he says it may be some time before human trials begin with the new medicine.

"It is important to understand that, although experimental results like those described here have never been obtained before, we are not yet in a position to carry out clinical trials with the triple therapy."

Despite all the negative comments, most people did applaud the scientist, and several think he deserves to win the next Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.