Pancreatic cancer drug nearly doubles survival in trial, ASCO reports
12 reported3 unconfirmed
At the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago on May 31, Harvard oncologist Brian Wolpin presented data showing that the drug daraxonrasib nearly doubled median overall survival in a 500-patient trial for a form of previously treated advanced pancreatic cancer. The announcement prompted a 42-second standing ovation from attending doctors, which Wolpin said was not built into his talk. ASCO’s chief medical officer Julie Gralow called the result a “grand slam,” and Toronto oncologist Jennifer Knox termed it a “game changer.” Pancreatic cancer kills more than 50,000 Americans annually and has a five-year survival rate in the low teens. The article notes that the US death rate from cancer has fallen 34 percent from its 1991 peak through 2023, and that immunotherapy, personalized mRNA vaccines, and GLP-1 drugs are among recent advances. However, the article also reports that new cancer drug prices have more than doubled between 2009 and 2019, and that the Trump administration’s cuts to NIH and NSF grants have disrupted hundreds of clinical trials and reduced early-career scientists’ grant success.
What’s reported
Brian Wolpin presented data at ASCO on May 31 showing daraxonrasib nearly doubled median overall survival in a 500-patient trial for previously treated advanced pancreatic cancer.
The presentation received a 42-second standing ovation from doctors.
ASCO’s Julie Gralow called the result a “grand slam”; Jennifer Knox called it a “game changer.”
Pancreatic cancer kills more than 50,000 Americans a year and has a five-year survival rate in the low teens.
The US cancer death rate fell 34 percent from its 1991 peak through 2023.
Immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab helped former President Jimmy Carter, diagnosed with metastatic melanoma in 2015, live another decade.
Moderna and Merck reported a personalized mRNA vaccine combined with pembrolizumab reduced recurrence or death risk for high-risk melanoma by 49 percent after five years.
A Memorial Sloan Kettering trial of a similar vaccine helped some pancreatic cancer patients stay cancer-free longer; seven of eight responders were alive four to six years later.
A blood test measuring 14 proteins, combined with risk factors, could help identify people likely to develop lung cancer years before diagnosis, per Charles Swanton’s team at the Francis Crick Institute.
A University of Pennsylvania study of over 110,000 women found GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic associated with about 30 percent lower breast cancer incidence.
Average monthly price of a new cancer drug more than doubled between 2009 and 2019; about half of surveyed American cancer patients take on debt for treatment.
The Trump administration froze or canceled thousands of NIH and NSF grants in 2025; new NIH awards fell by billions of dollars, disrupting hundreds of clinical trials.
Open questions
Whether the daraxonrasib trial results will lead to regulatory approval or widespread clinical use.
Whether the blood test for lung cancer risk and the anti-inflammatory drug prevention will become standard practice.
Whether the GLP-1 breast cancer finding will be confirmed in larger studies.
Key figures
Brian Wolpin, Harvard oncologist
Julie Gralow, ASCO chief medical officer
Jennifer Knox, Toronto oncologist
Adam Feuerstein, biotech correspondent for Stat
Jimmy Carter, former US president
Charles Swanton, Francis Crick Institute researcher
Eric Small, outgoing ASCO president
Amy Lin, University of San Francisco oncologist (deceased)
David Kessler, grief expert and author
Sources: vox.com
