Pancreatic cancer breakthrough as pill almost doubles survival time for patients
A once-daily pill helped almost double survival time for patients with an aggressive and advanced form of pancreatic cancer (Getty)
A new once-daily pill, daraxonrasib, has almost doubled the survival time for patients with an aggressive, advanced form of pancreatic cancer compared to chemotherapy in a recent trial.
Experts are hailing daraxonrasib as “landscape-changing” due to its significant efficacy and fewer serious side effects, with only 1.2 per cent of patients stopping treatment due to adverse reactions compared to 11.2 per cent on chemotherapy.
The drug works by targeting the mutated KRAS gene, found in over 90 per cent of pancreatic tumours, which signals cancer cells to grow, thereby preventing the spread of the disease.
The trial, involving 500 patients across North America, Europe, and Asia, reported a median survival time of 13.2 months for those on daraxonrasib, compared to 6.6 months for the chemotherapy group.
Pancreatic Cancer UK has described these new treatments as “some of the most exciting developments” in a long time and is calling for clinical trials in the UK and fast-tracked approval for such promising new therapies.
