Six Dunedin residents are taking part in the city's first pancreatic cancer treatment trial in more than 10 years

It's part of a wider-joint study throughout New Zealand and Australia.

Otago University Professor, Dr Chris Jackson says it looks into the performance of a drug designed to help chemotherapy get into cancer cells more effectively.

He says it's being compared to standard chemotherapy, to see if patients live longer and better quality lives.

Jackson says pancreas cancer often responds poorly in preliminary-stage trials, so its been a some time since a strong candidate has been studied.