Daraxonrasib: A New Frontier in Pancreatic Cancer Research?

By: David Ostrowsky

It may not be a cure, but it appears to be a giant step forward.

For well over a decade, there haven’t been any significant breakthroughs in developing treatment for pancreatic cancer, a particularly insidious disease that is agonizingly hard to detect before it spreads like wildfire across the body. While chemotherapy has proven to be efficacious in slowing down or even treating many other forms of cancer, pancreatic cancer has remained devilishly hard to stifle. And, tragically, it’s incredibly prevalent among Americans—in fact,  the American Cancer Society has predicted there will be approximately 67,000 new diagnosed cases in the U.S. this year while over 52,000 people will perish from it. On average, merely 13% of pancreatic cancer patients survive five years after diagnosis. But . . . thanks to a new experimental medication that is difficult to spell and even harder to pronounce, there may just be a glimmer of hope on the horizon.

What’s Sparking Optimism?

Daraxonrasib, a new drug that blocks a mutated protein that fuels tumor growth in more than 90% of pancreatic cancer cases, has been found to essentially double the overall survival time for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, per the recently released results of a comprehensive global study. In this study funded by Maker Revolution Medicines, 500 pancreatic cancer patients across North America, Europe, and Asia were randomly assigned either daraxonrasib or further chemotherapy treatment; those patients taking daraxonrasib lived for a median of 13.2 months longer compared with 6.7 months for chemotherapy recipients. Though some people may view these results as indicating merely an incremental improvement, daraxonrasib stands as the first-ever drug to demonstrate a substantial improvement over traditional chemotherapy.

How Were the Results Received?

In short, with great enthusiasm. Generations of medical researchers have been baffled in attempting to find more effective treatment for pancreatic cancer and there’s a large segment of the medical community that believes this experimental drug represents a meaningful milestone in that journey. When the findings, which have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, were formally presented late last month at the American Society for Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago, a lengthy standing ovation ensued. Many of the country’s most prominent medical experts have spoken glowingly about this new development in their remarks to the media. Some have even struggled to stay dry-eyed.

It’s important to note that the widespread enthusiasm for daraxonrasib does not just stem from the well-documented survival rate improvements. The groundswell of support for the white-hot new drug is also rooted in the fact that it has relatively few severe side effects, with the most notable ones being a serious rash and mouth sores.

What Types of Media Coverage Has This Development Received?

When the findings were revealed in Chicago on May 31, innumerable outlets picked up on the story. Whether it was Reuters, NBC News, or PBS, it was hard to find a mainstream outlet that did not provide coverage. But even before the grand unveiling at the American Society for Clinical Oncology, daraxonrasib was in the news when former United States Senator Ben Sasse (Nebraska) referred to it as “a miracle drug” in a 60 Minutes interview back in April. Sasse, who was diagnosed with stage-four pancreatic cancer in December, raved about the drug on national television. He would later say in a statement to CBS News, “This is an incredible drug that’s crushing my cancer in ways that were unimaginable just a few months ago. Here in month six after I was given three months to live, I’m incredibly blown away by what science is doing and grateful for the advances that future generations are going to make.”

What Are the Next Steps for This Drug?

Because daraxonrasib is riding such a strong wave of momentum, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has every intention to expedite review of the drug. The FDA also announced in early May that it would permit pancreatic cancer patients who meet certain criteria to access the drug under its “expanded access” program, before it formally approves the medication for use as a cancer treatment.

If Daraxonrasib Receives FDA Approval, What Types of Coverage May Be Available? 

That is the no-pun-intended million-dollar question. As of now it remains to be seen, but should the drug be greenlighted by the FDA, health plan sponsors, TPAs, and brokers nationwide will surely be anxiously awaiting some clarity.