A daily pill called daraxonrasib has been shown to double survival time in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, according to results from a clinical trial presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco) annual meeting in Chicago. Experts have hailed the drug as a 'gamechanger' and one of the biggest breakthroughs in decades for a cancer that is often diagnosed late and has few treatment options.
The trial involved 500 patients with pancreatic cancer that had spread. Those who took daraxonrasib lived an average of 13.2 months, compared with 6.6 to 6.7 months for patients who received chemotherapy. The drug also had fewer side-effects than chemotherapy. Dr Rachna Shroff, chief of oncology at the University of Arizona Cancer Center, described the results as 'landscape-changing' and said she wept when she first read them.
Daraxonrasib works by targeting a protein called Kras, which fuels nearly all pancreatic cancers. It glues molecules together to grab and shut down Kras, stopping cancer growth. More than 90% of patients with the most common form of pancreatic cancer have a mutation in the Kras gene. The drug is a new type of Ras inhibitor that can turn off the Kras protein regardless of the specific variant.
Paula Hanford, chief executive of Pancreatic Cancer Action, called the discovery one of the most significant developments in treatment she had ever seen. Anna Jewell of Pancreatic Cancer UK said the results were 'exciting' but stressed the need to ensure such drugs are made available to patients, noting that half of all people with pancreatic cancer die within three months of diagnosis.
