A daily pill has been shown to double survival time for people with the deadliest form of pancreatic cancer, according to results from a clinical trial. The drug, called daraxonrasib, targets a specific genetic mutation found in many pancreatic tumors and could change how this aggressive disease is treated.
A pill that attacks cancer at its genetic root
The trial took place across multiple hospitals in the United Kingdom and involved patients with advanced pancreatic cancer whose tumors carried a mutation in the KRAS gene. This mutation is present in about 90 percent of pancreatic cancer cases and has long been considered undruggable. Daraxonrasib works by blocking the mutated protein, starving the cancer cells of signals they need to grow. Patients took the drug once a day as a tablet.
Survival times nearly doubled in the study
Results showed that patients who received daraxonrasib lived a median of 11.5 months, compared with 6.3 months for those on standard chemotherapy. That is an 83 percent improvement in overall survival. The drug also delayed disease progression by several months. Side effects were described as manageable, with the most common being nausea, fatigue, and diarrhea. No patients dropped out of the trial due to adverse effects.
Why this matters to patients and doctors in the UK
Pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival rate of any major cancer. In the UK, around 10,000 people are diagnosed each year, and most die within a year. Current treatments offer limited benefit, and chemotherapy often causes severe side effects. For British patients and their families, a daily pill that can be taken at home instead of repeated hospital infusions represents a major shift. The trial was funded by the drug's manufacturer and supported by Cancer Research UK. Researchers are now planning larger studies to confirm the results and seek regulatory approval.
A new chapter for a long-neglected cancer
Daraxonrasib is one of the first drugs to successfully target the KRAS mutation in pancreatic cancer. For decades, this mutation was considered impossible to block with medication. The trial results offer a rare piece of good news in a field where progress has been slow. While the drug does not cure the disease, it gives patients more time and a better quality of life during treatment. The findings were presented at a major oncology conference and published in a peer-reviewed journal. Further research will determine whether the pill can help patients with earlier stage disease or in combination with other therapies.
