US drug agency approves breakthrough treatment for pancreatic cancer

BREAKING: US FDA approves daraxonrasib, a breakthrough pancreatic cancer treatment that nearly doubled patient survival time to 13.2 months in trials, for one of the world's deadliest cancers.

The FDA just approved a pill that nearly doubles pancreatic cancer survival.

It's called daraxonrasib, brand name Rasonque, made by Revolution Medicines. In a late-stage trial of 500 patients, people on the daily pill lived an average of 13.2 months, against 6.6 months on chemotherapy. For this disease, that is enormous. Pancreatic cancer kills more than half of patients within three months of diagnosis, and about 67,000 Americans are diagnosed every year.

The science is elegant. The drug locks onto the mutated KRAS gene, the engine behind more than 90 percent of pancreatic tumours, and shuts it off. The FDA was so convinced it approved the drug six months ahead of deadline, calling the results unprecedented. Former Senator Ben Sasse, who has stage 4 pancreatic cancer, is on it in a trial and says his tumours are shrinking.

For the deadliest major cancer we know, tonight the odds just moved. In the right direction, for once.

This is Liu Yang, reporting for HIT.