I forgot to substitute the first word back in. 
$line =~ s/^(abc)\w+\s+\S+(?:,\s*\S+)*/$1/x;

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should give you what you want. You were right about the missing slash.
Caution: Contents may have been coded under pressure.

In reply to Re^3: remove specific data from a line by Roy Johnson
in thread remove specific data from a line by Anonymous Monk

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