By Murray Sherriffs
An experimental drug that doubles survival time for pancreatic cancer is being hailed as a breakthrough.
The “silent killer” shows few symptoms early, is often caught way too late, has only a 13 per cent five-year survival rate and is noted as one of the world’s deadliest forms of cancer.
A 3,500-person trial has pitted the once-a-day pill against standard chemotherapy in patients who had already gone through one unsuccessful round of traditional cancer treatment.
The pill—daraxonrasib—halted or reversed tumour progression by nearly a third, compared to just 10 per cent in those given chemotherapy, and doubles survival time from less than seven months to just over a year.
Trial results from U.S. biotech company Revolution Medicines are published in the New England Journal of Medicine.