Experimental Pill Doubles Survival in Pancreatic Cancer, Lung Drug Advances

The most significant development to emerge from the Asco congress in Chicago was the phase III data on daraxonrasib, an oral medication that blocks the mutated KRAS protein responsible for driving more than 90 per cent of pancreatic tumours. In a trial of 500 patients whose disease had progressed after chemotherapy, the daily pill reduced the overall risk of death by 60 per cent compared to further chemotherapy, nearly doubling median survival time. “While not curing the cancer, it is a very large step forward,” said Dr Zev Wainberg of UCLA, who helped lead the study and described it as one of the most emotional of his career: every patient on the chemotherapy arm of the trial has since died, whereas half of those receiving the experimental drug survived.

Viewed from Washington, the results were characterised as “unprecedented” and a potential “gamechanger” for a malignancy that kills more than 90 per cent of patients within five years. In Paris, Le Figaro quoted oncologist Gaël Roth declaring “we are living a revolution,” while Italian outlets from Adnkronos to HuffPost Italia framed the development as an “immense hope” finally breaching a tumour long considered undruggable. Arab-language reporting from Sky News Arabia emphasised not only the survival benefit but also the alleviation of symptoms that allowed some to resume normal activities, an outcome rarely seen in this disease.

The daraxonrasib breakthrough did not stand alone. A separate study presented at the congress involved ivonescimab, a dual-action investigational drug for advanced squamous non-small cell lung cancer. It disables the immune-off switch tumours exploit and also targets a protein critical for building new blood vessels. When added to chemotherapy, it extended patients’ lives by an average of 15 per cent. Specialists in London welcomed it as a “promising step forward” for a subtype with few therapeutic options.

The convergence of these two narratives — one turning a previously elusive genetic driver into a druggable target, the other marrying immunotherapy with anti-angiogenesis — suggests that oncology is entering a period where incremental gains are giving way to more durable advances. Caution is warranted: daraxonrasib is not a cure, and its benefits have yet to be tested in earlier lines of treatment or other KRAS-mutant cancers. Yet the fact that clinicians in Chicago spoke openly about a “revolution” reflects a shift in the professional mood that, for a disease as stubborn as pancreatic cancer, may itself be a milestone.