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Opinion: STAT+: The real work for making dramatic gains against pancreatic cancer is just beginning

An article discusses recent advancements in treating pancreatic cancer, highlighting a new drug, daraxonrasib, which showed improved survival rates in patients compared to traditional chemotherapy. The FDA granted early access to the drug for select patients who had exhausted other treatment options. The piece emphasizes the significance of these developments and the ongoing efforts needed to make substantial progress in combating pancreatic cancer.

By Andrea Califano and Gideon Bosker

June 19, 2026

Califano and Bosker are co-founders of Darwin Health.

On May 31, at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago, an international study co-led by a UCLA research team reported that patients with pancreatic cancer who took the drug daraxonrasib lived substantially longer, for an average of 13.2 months, compared with 6.6 to 6.7 months for patients who had chemotherapy alone.

This is welcome news, and in anticipation of these results, the FDA, just a month earlier, announced it was granting early access to the drug for selected patients who had failed guideline-directed treatments for this lethal malignancy.

Widespread media coverage of this regulatory pivot in drug access highlights the intense, enduring interest among the general public, as well as in the scientific and medical communities, for identifying treatments that can move the survival needle lethal for complex, heterogeneous malignancies, thereby derailing effective treatment, especially when only single drugs are deployed to improve clinical outcomes.

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Source document: American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting

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STAT NewsIndependentCenter2 days ago
Opinion: STAT+: The real work for making dramatic gains against pancreatic cancer is just beginning

An article discusses recent advancements in treating pancreatic cancer, highlighting a new drug, daraxonrasib, which showed improved survival rates in patients compared to traditional chemotherapy. The FDA granted early access to the drug for select patients who had exhausted other treatment options. The piece emphasizes the significance of these developments and the ongoing efforts needed to make substantial progress in combating pancreatic cancer.

Bias read (Center): The article presents factual information about a medical advancement without overtly favoring any political perspective. It focuses on scientific findings and regulatory actions related to a drug trial, avoiding ideological commentary or biased language.

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  • organisation American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting
  • organisation FDA

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  • organisationAmerican Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting
  • organisationFDA