Manchester, England: Paris Saint-Germain are setting their sights on a Champions League threepeat after securing back-to-back titles, underlining their dominance in European football.After defeating Arsenal 4-3 in a penalty shootout in Saturday’s final in Budapest, PSG have shown no signs of relinquishing their grip on Europe’s top competition.“Of course we’re going to go to the market,” president Nasser Al-Khelaifi told TNT Sports, signalling further investment in the squad.Under head coach Luis Enrique, PSG have built a young and dynamic team, with an average starting age of 25.8 years in the final. Ten of the starting XI had also featured in the previous year’s title-winning side.Midfielder Vitinha said the team’s success has only increased its ambition. “You always want to win again. Never give up. Never stop,” he said.Luis Enrique has demonstrated a ruthless approach, including replacing goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma with Matvey Safonov last season. Younger players such as Warren Zaire-Emery are also expected to take on larger roles.Despite their dominance, PSG may still look to strengthen certain areas, including finding long-term replacements for ageing players and adding depth to the squad.“You do not need a lot of players because it is very difficult to find the right players,” Luis Enrique said. “We already have a great squad.”PSG’s high-intensity style and attacking approach have drawn comparisons with some of Europe’s greatest teams, combining possession play with direct, risk-taking football.The squad’s youth profile includes players such as Désiré Doué, João Neves and Nuno Mendes, all of whom have already achieved major success at an early stage in their careers.However, the demands of a congested fixture schedule remain a challenge. PSG reached 56 matches this season following a 65-game campaign the previous year, raising concerns about player fatigue.Keeping hold of Luis Enrique may prove crucial to sustaining success, as the coach has joined an elite group by winning three European Cups.Al-Khelaifi praised him as “the best coach in the world”, highlighting his importance to PSG’s continued ambitions at the top of European football.

Washington: A novel pill has helped people with advanced pancreatic cancer live longer, researchers reported Sunday, raising hopes for improved treatments for one of the deadliest types of cancer.“While not curing the cancer, it is a very large step forward,” said Dr Zev Wainberg of the University of California, Los Angeles, who helped lead the study.The drug, called daraxonrasib, blocks a mutated protein that fuels tumour growth in more than 90% of pancreatic cancer cases — a target that had eluded treatment for decades.In a study involving 500 patients whose metastatic (spreading) cancer had stopped responding to prior treatment, the daily pill nearly doubled survival time and resulted in fewer severe side effects compared to further chemotherapy. The findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago.Patients taking daraxonrasib lived a median of 13.2 months, compared with 6.7 months for those receiving chemotherapy. While the improvement may seem modest, Wainberg said it marked the first drug to show a significant advantage over chemotherapy.Dr Rachna Shroff of the University of Arizona Cancer Center, who was not involved in the research, said she was deeply moved by the results. She noted that patients remained on the treatment longer because it provided sustained and meaningful benefits.Although the drug’s effects can diminish over time, patients used it for significantly longer than those on chemotherapy, reporting reduced pain and improved quality of life as tumours shrank. Many participants were still taking the drug when the data was analysed, suggesting the survival gap may widen as monitoring continues.Dr Brian Wolpin of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who presented the findings, said the drug could become “a new standard of care” for previously treated metastatic pancreatic cancer. Researchers also plan to study its use earlier in the disease, including whether tumour shrinkage could make more patients eligible for surgery.The most common side effects affecting use of the drug include severe rash and mouth sores.The study was funded by Revolution Medicines, and the US Food and Drug Administration plans to expedite its review. The agency is also allowing expanded access to eligible patients while the review is ongoing.Pancreatic cancer remains one of the most deadly cancers, largely because it is difficult to detect before it spreads. The American Cancer Society estimates that about 67,000 new cases will be diagnosed in the United States this year, with more than 52,000 deaths. The five-year survival rate is around 13%.Unlike other cancers, pancreatic cancer has been difficult to treat with alternatives to chemotherapy. However, experts not involved in the study said the findings could mark a turning point, with multiple experimental drugs currently in development.Daraxonrasib targets mutations in the RAS gene family, which regulate cell growth. KRAS mutations are particularly important in driving pancreatic cancer but were long considered difficult to treat.The drug works by acting as a form of molecular “glue”, binding to several KRAS subtypes. Researchers will now investigate whether it is more effective against specific subtypes.Other treatments under development include drugs targeting specific KRAS mutations and vaccines designed to prevent recurrence after surgery by training the immune system to recognise the mutated protein.