Pancreatic cancer is deadly and difficult to treat. A new pill could change that - PBS

Hannah Grabenstein Hannah Grabenstein A new drug that targets a gene behind pancreatic cancer has physicians and researchers cautiously optimistic about improved treatment for one of the deadliest cancers. Revolution Medicines, the pharmaceutical company behind the new drug, will release more in-depth data Sunday on the clinical trial testing of its pill. The pill is called daraxonrasib, and it's part of a class of drugs known as RAS inhibitors that target the KRAS gene. Mutations of that gene are found in more than 90% of patients with the most common type of pancreatic cancer, as well as 40 to 45% percent of colorectal cancer patients and up to 30% percent of people with non-small cell lung cancer. WATCH: Rising colorectal cancer rates in younger adults prompt new awareness push The five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer, which is difficult to detect early and among the hardest to treat, once it has spread to other parts of the body is only 3%, and the vast majority of patients are diagnosed when the cancer is more advanced. But experts not involved with the drug's development told PBS News that the preliminary data in the daraxonrasib trial are raising hopes for prolonging those patients' lives. Revolution Medicines released the initial results of the Phase 1 and 2 trial at the end of April with a promising breakthrough: The overall survival rate for people who got daraxonrasib was 13.2 months, nearly double the 6.7 months people survived on standard chemotherapy alone. Patients received the pill as a "second line" treatment after they'd been treated for their cancer or received standard chemotherapy.