For generations, pancreatic cancer has occupied a grim corner of medicine where the tools of modern oncology arrived and found little purchase — its dominant mutation, KRAS, long declared undruggable. Now, a phase 3 trial of daraxonrasib, a drug that reaches KRAS indirectly through a molecular intermediary, has nearly doubled median survival in advanced disease, extending it from 6.7 to 13.2 months in 500 patients. The result does not promise a cure, but it signals that a molecular wall long thought permanent has begun, at last, to give way.
Daraxonrasib Doubles Survival in Advanced Pancreatic Cancer, Targeting Long-Elusive KRAS
Advanced pancreatic cancer patients historically face median survival of 6.7 months; this trial offers potential to extend survival and improve quality of life for thousands of patients.