Experimental pill targets KRAS mutant protein in pancreatic cancer

daraxonrasib nearly – A new experimental pill, daraxonrasib, blocked a KRAS mutation that drives more than 90% of pancreatic cancer cases and nearly doubled median survival for people with metastatic disease that had stopped responding to prior treatment. Researchers reported resul

For years. advanced pancreatic cancer has followed the same grim script: diagnosis arrives late. tumors spread quickly. and treatments that work elsewhere often fail to make much of a dent. On Sunday in Chicago, researchers delivered a different kind of news—one that made even seasoned oncologists visibly emotional.

The experimental pill. daraxonrasib. helped people with metastatic pancreatic cancer live longer after their disease had quit responding to earlier treatment. “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 is designed to block a mutated protein that fuels tumor growth in more than 90% of pancreatic cancer cases—an avenue that had resisted treatment for decades.

The results were based on a study that randomly assigned 500 patients to receive either daily daraxonrasib or more chemotherapy. Participants had metastatic, or spreading, cancer that had stopped responding to prior treatment. The findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented Sunday at the American Society for Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago.

Those taking daraxonrasib lived a median of 13.2 months, compared with 6.7 months for chemotherapy recipients. Dr. Wainberg said it was the first drug to show a substantial advantage over chemotherapy—an important distinction in a field where gains can be incremental and hard-won.

Dr. Rachna Shroff of the University of Arizona Cancer Center. who was not involved in the research. said she started crying when she first saw the study results after 16 years treating pancreatic cancer. She described how “patients stayed on this treatment because it was providing durable and meaningful benefit to them.”.

The benefit didn’t just show up in survival numbers. The pills’ effects eventually waned. but recipients used the drug for significantly longer than the chemotherapy comparison group remained on treatment. The study also reported fewer severe side effects. along with less pain and a better quality of life as tumors shrank. Wainberg said many patients were still using the drug after the data was analyzed. suggesting the survival gap could widen as researchers continue to track them.

The stakes were made even clearer by what oncologists expect to do next. Dr. Brian Wolpin of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute presented the findings and said the drug should become “a new standard of care” for people with previously treated metastatic pancreatic cancer. He also said researchers will explore using the drug earlier in the disease—investigating whether tumor shrinkage might allow more patients to qualify for surgery.

Of course, the promise came with real-world trade-offs. Wolpin said the side effects most likely to affect pill usage were a rash that can be severe and mouth sores.

Daraxonrasib is being developed by Revolution Medicines, which funded the study. The Food and Drug Administration plans to expedite review of the drug, and the agency is also allowing “expanded access” for patients who meet certain criteria—an option that can matter when time is measured in months.

The drug gained public attention before these new trial results through former U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, who described on “60 Minutes” how he had less pain while taking it. As the special access program begins, oncologists are being flooded with requests.

Pancreatic cancer remains among the deadliest forms of cancer partly because it’s hard to detect before it starts spreading. The American Cancer Society estimates about 67. 000 new cases will be diagnosed in the United States this year and more than 52. 000 people will die from the disease. The five-year overall survival rate is 13%.

Unlike other cancers that have seen a variety of chemotherapy alternatives, pancreatic cancer has been harder to tackle. Cancer specialists not involved in the new research said the trial results bring a sense of optimism that this could be a turning point. even as dozens of experimental drugs remain in development.

At the center of the breakthrough is the biology the drug targets. Daraxonrasib is aimed at mutations in the RAS gene family that normally regulates cell growth. So-called KRAS mutations are especially critical in fueling pancreatic cancer. and a structure that made it difficult for drugs to bind to the mutated proteins led the cancer driver to be considered “undruggable.”.

Revolution Medicines’ approach uses what it described as a molecular glue strategy to bind with multiple KRAS subtypes. Wainberg said researchers next will probe whether the drug worked better in certain of those subtypes.

Outside researchers said the mechanism matters because it’s different from the direction many competitors are taking. Dr. Andrew Coveler of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. who wasn’t involved with the study. said. “This thing works drastically differently.” Wainberg added that other drugs in development target specific KRAS subtypes.

Still, even as daraxonrasib edges closer to a new standard of care, the field is not stopping. Other approaches in earlier stages of testing include vaccines designed to prevent recurrence after pancreatic cancer surgery by teaching the immune system to recognize the mutated protein.

For patients and clinicians, what’s changed Sunday is not that the disease has been cured. It’s that a hard-to-hit target—one that had long resisted drugs—has started yielding a clearer, longer benefit than standard chemotherapy for a group that has few good options left.

pancreatic cancer daraxonrasib KRAS mutations FDA expanded access New England Journal of Medicine ASCO 2026 Revolution Medicines