An experimental pancreatic cancer drug is predicted to revolutionize the way the cancer is treated, according to oncologists. The drug, Daraxonrasib, has been fast-tracked for approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which last week permitted it to be given to patients outside of clinical trials. The findings were published by Revolution Medicines, and are being referred to as a “watershed” moment by doctors in the field. Dr. Sekhar Padmanabhan, a surgical oncologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center said the drug will have a significant impact. “I don’t use the word ‘groundbreaking’ lightly,” he said. Phase three of the drug’s trial found that patients who received Daraxonrasib in addition to chemotherapy saw double the survival time compared with those who just got chemotherapy. The findings also showed that in patients whose cancer had spread to other parts of the body, the drug was able to stop tumours from getting worse and kept patients alive for nearly a year and a half. The results reflect a remarkable advancement in treating pancreatic cancer, a disease which is usually only detected after it has spread to other parts of the body. Patients with the disease rarely live more than a year after diagnosis. Only 3% of those diagnosed are alive five years later, according to the American Cancer Society. Daraxonrasib targets a protein called RAS, which manages how cells grow in the body. Until now, the protein has been considered “undruggable.” RAS mutations are not limited to pancreatic cancer. Researchers are now looking at whether the drug will work in patients with other cancers, such as colorectal and lung.
