Groundbreaking New Drug Nearly Doubles Pancreatic Cancer Survival
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An experimental new pill, daraxonrasib, significantly improved survival rates of participants with pancreatic cancer. Israel Sebastian/Getty Images. A new medication performed remarkably well in a phase 3 clinical trial for treating pancreatic cancer. The drug daraxonrasib reduced the risk of death by nearly half, as well as shrank tumors in people who were given the drug. Pancreatic cancer has the highest mortality rate of all major cancers, and early detection is the key to treating the disease. A new type of medication is showing promise in the treatment of pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of cancer. In a phase 3 clinical trial, the drug daraxonrasib significantly improved survival rates of participants with pancreatic cancer who had previously been treated with chemotherapy. The researchers found that daraxonrasib reduced the overall risk of death by 60% compared with people with advanced pancreatic cancer who were treated with chemotherapy. The medication also helped shrink or eliminate tumors among participants in the trial. The findings were recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2026 annual meeting from May 29 to June 2 in Chicago, IL. Officials at Revolution Medicines, the manufacturer of daraxonrasib, said the clinical trial results are a major breakthrough in pancreatic cancer treatment. “These results represent a potentially transformative advance for patients and underscore daraxonrasib’s potential to redefine the treatment landscape,” said Mark Goldsmith, MD, the chief executive officer and chairman of Revolution Medicines, in a statement. Experimental pancreatic cancer drug shows promise The RASolute 302 clinical trial involved a total of 500 participants with solid tumors and activating RAS mutations, a gene mutation found in the cancer cells of 92% of pancreatic cancer cases. Participants were given doses of between 10 milligrams (mg) and 400 mg of darax