A new experimental pill has shown promising results for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of the disease.
The drug, called Daraxonrasib, helped patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer live for a median of 13.2 months, compared with 6.7 months for those who received chemotherapy.
The findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago.
The study involved 500 patients whose cancer had spread and stopped responding to earlier treatment. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either the daily pill or further chemotherapy.
Daraxonrasib works by blocking a mutated protein that fuels tumor growth in more than 90 percent of pancreatic cancer cases. The target had remained difficult to treat for decades and was long considered “undruggable.”
Patients taking the pill also reported less pain and better quality of life as their tumors shrank. They were able to stay on the treatment longer than those who received chemotherapy, although the drug’s effects eventually wear off.
Many patients were still using daraxonrasib when the data was analyzed, which researchers said could mean the survival gap may grow with longer follow-up.
Dr. Zev Wainberg of the University of California, Los Angeles, who helped lead the study, said the treatment is not a cure but represents “a very large step forward.”
Dr. Brian Wolpin of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who presented the findings, said the drug should become “a new standard of care” for previously treated metastatic pancreatic cancer. Researchers also plan to test whether it can be used earlier in the disease, including whether tumor shrinkage could help more patients become eligible for surgery.
The main side effects that affected pill use were rash, which can be severe, and mouth sores.
Pancreatic cancer is difficult to treat because it is often detected only after it has spread to other organs. The American Cancer Society estimates that around 67,000 new cases will be diagnosed in the United States this year, while more than 52,000 people are expected to die from the disease. The five-year overall survival rate is 13 percent.
