Pancreatic Cancer Drug Doubles Survival Time in Trial

After more than a decade without major progress, pancreatic cancer patients finally have reason for hope.

An experimental drug called daraxonrasib nearly doubled survival time in people with advanced pancreatic cancer, extending life from 6.7 months to 13.2 months. When researchers presented the results at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago on May 31, the packed room gave them a standing ovation.

The drug works by targeting RAS proteins, a family of molecular switches that fuel some of the deadliest cancers. For decades, these proteins were considered "undruggable" because their smooth surfaces gave medications nowhere to latch on.

Daraxonrasib breaks through that barrier by switching off all three members of the RAS family. The trial included 500 people with advanced pancreatic cancer, and the results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"After more than a decade without major advances in treatment for pancreatic cancer, seeing this is really emotional," says Ecaterina Dumbrava, an oncologist at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The first anti-RAS drug only became available in 2021, and it targeted just one specific mutation.

The Ripple Effect

The breakthrough is creating momentum across cancer research. Scientists working on other "undruggable" targets are finding fresh optimism and funding.

About 70% of all cancers are driven by a protein called MYC, which has been equally difficult to target. An experimental drug called OMO-103 has already shown promise in early trials with 19 participants.

Researchers are also making progress with p53, nicknamed "the guardian of the genome" because it stops damaged cells from multiplying. The gene for p53 is the most commonly mutated gene in cancer, and a clinical trial published this year offered new hope for restoring its function.

Chemical biologist Kevan Shokat from the University of California, San Francisco, believes daraxonrasib is just the beginning. Combining it with other drugs could produce even longer-lasting benefits, and future versions might reduce side effects.

The success of the first KRAS drug in 2021 helped fuel investment in similar research. "Everyone was asking, 'what can we do next?'" says Ed Feris, chief executive of cosMYC, a company pursuing MYC-targeting drugs.

For families facing pancreatic cancer and other deadly diagnoses, these advances represent something more precious than statistics: the gift of more time together and genuine hope for the future.