WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved a groundbreaking new drug for advanced pancreatic cancer, offering US patients a more effective treatment against one of the deadliest types of cancer .
Andrew Coveler of the Fred Hutch Cancer Center.
“This is one of the most anticipated approvals I can think of,” said Dr. “This medicine is not a cure but a significant improvement.”
Patients taking the drug nearly doubled their survival time, with fewer severe side effects, in a study that randomly assigned them to receive the experimental treatment or more chemotherapy. Side effects included skin rash, mouth sores, diarrhea and other digestive issues. The new drug targets mutations in the RAS gene family that normally regulates cell growth. What are known as KRAS mutations are especially critical in fueling pancreatic cancer.
FDA officials gave expedited approval to the first-of-a-kind pill , called daraxonrasib, which blocks a mutated protein that fuels tumor growth in more than 90% of pancreatic cancer cases. The company-funded study enrolled 500 patients whose metastatic, or spreading, cancer had quit responding to prior treatment. Patients getting the new treatment lived for a median of 13.2 months compared with 6.7 months for chemotherapy recipients. The American Cancer Society estimates about 67,000 new cases will be diagnosed in the United States this year and more than 52,000 people will die from the disease. The five-year overall survival rate is 13%.
Because it is hard to detect before it starts spreading to other organs, pancreatic cancer is among the most deadly forms in large part.
Ben Sasse , R-Neb., described on CBS’ “60 Minutes” how he has had less pain while taking it. A surge in public interest led the FDA to allow “expanded access,” before the drug’s official approval, for patients who met certain criteria. But a structure that made it hard for drugs to stick to the mutated proteins meant this cancer driver was long considered “undruggable.”
It’s an approach that previously eluded drugmakers for decades. The drug garnered public attention earlier this year when former Sen.
