American doctors have created an experimental drug daraxonerasib, the use of which has almost doubled the life expectancy of patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. This follows from the results of a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
500 patients from North America, Europe and Asia were selected for the experiment. All of them had metastatic pancreatic cancer and had previously received treatment. They were randomly assigned to two groups: 248 patients received daraxonerasib, 252 patients received classical chemotherapy.
The drug acted in a targeted manner, unlike the traditional method, which destroys both healthy and diseased cells. The drug blocked the mutant protein, which allowed the tumor to grow. A positive effect of exposure was detected in more than 90% of the experimental subjects.
“In patients with previously treated metastatic renal cell carcinoma, daraxonrasib resulted in significantly longer overall survival and progression-free survival compared with chemotherapy,” the study highlights.
Among the general population of experimental participants, those who took the drug lived longer by 7.2 months, and those who received standard chemotherapy lived 3.6 months longer, respectively. At the same time, those taking the medication were able to stop the growth of cancer cells.
In addition to the two main groups, there was a subgroup of patients with the RAS G12 mutation, which disrupts the functioning of proteins, making them constantly active, which contributes to the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells and the development of malignant tumors. Among people with this feature, median progression-free survival was 7.3 months with daraxonrazib and 3.5 months with chemotherapy.
Adverse events were reported in all patients in the daraxonerasib group and in 97.7% of patients in the chemotherapy group, and their incidence of high severity was 61.8% and 69.6%, respectively.
“Treatment-related adverse events leading to discontinuation of therapy occurred in 1.2% of patients in the daraxonerasib group and in 11.2% of patients in the chemotherapy group,” the study detailed.
The drug can become one of the methods of KRAS therapy, that is, a method of resisting cancer by blocking the work of a protein in tumor cells. This position is shared by Dr. Rachna Shroff, chief of department at the University of Arizona Cancer Center and an American Society of Clinical Oncology expert on gastrointestinal cancer.
The study results change the way patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer are treated, she told The ASCO Post. There is “unprecedented survival” and effectiveness in treating this type of disease, the doctor notes.
“A revolution in cancer stem cell research has occurred, and this study proves that KRAS targeted therapy for pancreatic cancer is feasible and effective,” Shroff said.
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) notes that the survival rate for this type of cancer is 13.7%. In 2026, 52,740 people in the United States will die from it and 67,530 are expected to become ill. Pancreatic cancer is more common in older people and slightly more common in men than women, NCI adds.
