{"id":1166,"date":"2026-06-04T10:37:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T10:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1166"},"modified":"2026-06-04T10:37:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T10:37:53","slug":"jarvis-this-pancreatic-cancer-drug-is-so-good-it-got-a-standing-ovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1166","title":{"rendered":"Jarvis: This pancreatic cancer drug is so good, it got a standing ovation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It\u2019s not often that you see a standing ovation at a medical conference. But over the weekend, a ballroom full of cancer specialists got to their feet to applaud a slide showing that Revolution Medicine\u2019s daraxonrasib had doubled the survival time of patients with pancreatic cancer.<\/p>\n

Read more Horoscopes June 4, 2026: Noah Wyle, a change is in order<\/a><\/p>\n

The response shows the pent-up desperation for progress in one of the toughest-to-treat cancers. And daraxonrasib represents more than progress. It feels more like a paradigm shift.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt changes everyone\u2019s perception of what you can do for this disease \u2014 how you can help people,\u201d says\u00a0Brian Wolpin, the\u00a0Dana-Farber Cancer Institute\u00a0oncologist who led the trial and presented the results at the cancer conference. \u201cIt\u2019s really a sea change in how this disease will be handled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Major shift<\/h4>\n

It was a moment anticipated since RevMed\u2019s April press release showing that in a late-stage clinical trial, people taking its pill lived, on average, 13.2 months compared to 6.7 months for those given chemotherapy. Pancreatic cancer specialists were thrilled, yet also wanted granular data that could teach the field where to go next.<\/p>\n

Now, they have it \u2014 well, some of it.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the truly amazing news: Daraxonrasib hit every marker important to doctors and patients. The drug doubled survival time and kept tumors from growing for twice as long compared to conventional chemotherapy.<\/p>\n

Even better, people taking the drug had about five more months before their quality of life deteriorated compared to those on chemotherapy. And because daraxonrasib is a pill, patients are spared the burden of going to a facility and being tethered to an IV pump. For a cancer known for its brutal progression, those things \u2014 being able to receive care at home, having more quality time \u2014 truly matter.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, daraxonrasib\u2019s side effects, which got a lot of attention when former\u00a0Nebraska\u00a0Senator\u00a0Ben Sasse\u00a0discussed participating in the trial earlier this year, are looking manageable.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Like Sasse, most people in the trial experienced a rash (though just 15% had a severe case), and over half had nausea or painful sores in their mouths and throats. Yet very few dropped out of the study, a testament to the significance of the drug\u2019s efficacy, says Eileen O\u2019Reilly, a pancreatic cancer specialist at\u00a0Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center\u00a0who was the lead author of a NEJM paper detailing the results.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to in any way minimize the importance of the rash \u2014 it\u2019s a real issue,\u201d says O\u2019Reilly. But \u201cpatients speak with their feet,\u201d and in her four years of treating people with RevMed\u2019s drug, most are very reluctant to discontinue it.<\/p>\n

Genetic drivers<\/h4>\n

One key question remains open, though: Does daraxonrasib work equally well across each of the genetic drivers of this deadly cancer? Some 90% of pancreatic cancers are caused by mutations in a protein called KRAS. Whereas many other treatments in development target the individual mutation underlying someone\u2019s disease, daraxonrasib shuts down the whole family of proteins. Oncologists want to know if that broad activity leads to broad efficacy.<\/p>\n

Any nuances have real-world implications for how this drug is used, says\u00a0Manuel Hidalgo, the director of\u00a0NYU Grossman School\u00a0of Medicine\u2019s\u00a0Gastrointestinal Cancer Center. There\u2019s no question that daraxonrasib, once approved, will instantly become oncologists\u2019 most important new tool for slowing pancreatic cancer. But Hidalgo says the conversations he has with patients could change if some mutations are less responsive to the drug \u2014 for example, someone might want to consider a clinical trial of a more targeted therapy before trying daraxonrasib.<\/p>\n

Read more Asking Eric: The kids are counting on me but I\u2019m burned out<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Understanding the intricacies of where this groundbreaking treatment works well, and where there is room for improvement, will be crucial for the continued advancement of the field.<\/p>\n

Those data are coming, Wolpin told me. And at least in the initial look, there doesn\u2019t seem to be a dramatic difference between the three main genetic drivers, he said.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s so much hope for what could come next in pancreatic cancer, that every bit of information should be squeezed out of this trial and made available to oncologists as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt resets the entire process,\u201d Hidalgo says. \u201cIt resets the way patients are going to be treated, the way the drugs are going to be developed, and I think that five years from now, building upon this is going to be quite amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

This latest dataset is from people whose tumors continued to grow, despite chemotherapy. But RevMed\u2019s drug is expected to be practice-changing, meaning people newly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer are likely to be offered it, too. Oncologists are eager to see whether the benefits expand in that earlier setting.<\/p>\n

Other questions being urgently explored: What if it\u2019s used to shrink tumors before a person\u2019s pancreas is removed? Could it help if given after surgery? Are there benefits to combining it with chemo, immunotherapy or experimental treatments that target specific mutations in RAS?<\/p>\n

The list of clinical trials to run is long. \u201cI won\u2019t say it\u2019s endless, but it\u2019s almost endless,\u201d O\u2019Reilly says.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a good problem to have. As each of those trials starts to provide answers, they might not elicit applause, but they hopefully will mean steady progress \u2014 leading eventually to a cure.<\/p>\n

Lisa Jarvis is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering biotech, health care and the pharmaceutical industry. \u00a92026 Bloomberg. Visit bloomberg.com\/opinion. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Harriette Cole: I asked my boyfriend to translate, and he said his family was speaking English<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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