A new drug has the potential to double survival for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, according to results from a phase III clinical trial presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) 2026 annual meeting and published at the same time. New England Medical Journal.
Andrew Hendifer, MD, professor of medicine and medical director of Cedars-Sinai’s Cancer Clinical Trials and Gastrointestinal Tumor Disease Research Group, is the trial’s principal investigator and co-author of the study sponsored by Revolution Medicines, the drug’s maker. he sat with Cedars-Sinai Newsroom To talk about research results.
How does this new drug work?
The drug, called daraxone lasib, is the first to target cancer-causing mutations in pancreatic cells.
This drug targets mutations in the KRAS gene, which is part of the RAS gene family. KRAS mutations are present in 92% of pancreatic cancers. The KRAS gene normally functions as an “on/off” switch for cell proliferation. The mutated KRAS gene locks into the “on” position, sending signals that cause cells to divide and grow uncontrollably, allowing cancer to form.
Dalaxone lasib blocks KRAS signals by fitting into a keyhole-shaped spot on the gene. The spot has a complex shape and is difficult to reach inside the cell. This drug gets around this problem by using a “passenger protein” as a Trojan horse. When a cell allows this protein to enter, it also becomes tagged with daraxone lasib.
Why are these clinical trial results so groundbreaking?
There are no approved targeted treatments for pancreatic cancer, and no major advances have been made for a long time. We have only come up with various chemotherapy combinations, but their efficacy is only moderate. This new treatment is surprisingly better than chemotherapy. Typically, when we think of improved survival rates for pancreatic cancer, we think of a 25% improvement. This drug actually doubled survival rates for patients with advanced disease. Although some patients in the trial are still alive, this is unprecedented, as the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer patients is only 13-14%.. If approved by the FDA, this drug would likely become a new standard of care for advanced pancreatic cancer, potentially replacing chemotherapy as a first-line treatment.
What comes next?
We are currently testing this drug in patients with early-stage pancreatic cancer, prescribing the drug before the tumor is still operable and before the cancer has spread.
Is Daraxone Lasib effective against other types of cancer?
RAS mutations are one of the most common genetic mutations that cause cancer, and this drug is currently being studied in several types of cancer. I think it is particularly effective against tumors that are primarily caused by RAS, such as colon cancer and lung cancer. It may also be effective in other types of cancer when used in combination with drugs that target other genetic mutations, but more research is needed.
How will this discovery change cancer science?
This is a victory on the ground. So far, we have focused on discovering combinations of immunotherapy, which can make tumors more vulnerable to the body’s immune system, and new chemotherapy, which can kill cancer cells.
I think this new treatment will give us a new focus and will spur many scientific discoveries in the coming years. There were only a few KRAS researchers, and its relevance to treatment was always in question. That is about to change.
The most important next step for the field is a deeper understanding of cancer biology. We know that many pancreatic tumors eventually become resistant to dalaxone lasib, and we need to understand how this happens. We also need to identify additional genetic pathways and treatments that target them. By doing so, we can transform pancreatic cancer from a deadly cancer to a manageable cancer that can one day be treated.
