FDA approves new pancreatic cancer drug that could extend patients' lives

The FDA has approved a breakthrough drug, Rasonque, developed by RevMed, for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. This new treatment has shown promising results in a late-stage study, where patients who received Rasonque lived an average of 13 months, nearly twice as long as those who only received chemotherapy. Pancreatic cancer is particularly aggressive, with only seven out of eight patients surviving beyond five years.

The drug targets a group of mutations called RAS, responsible for nearly a third of all human cancers, a challenge that researchers have grappled with for decades due to the protein's unique shape. The approval of Rasonque could generate over $20 billion in annual sales, according to a pharma analytics firm.

Brief written by urgent.news from Semafor's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.