New daily pill can double survival time for world's deadliest cancer patients
Scientists have hailed a pill that can double the survival time of people suffering from pancreatic cancer as a 'game changer'.
Groundbreaking new research conducted by boffins in the US could completely transform the way patients diagnosed with the world's deadliest form of the disease are treated.
Offering fewer side-effects than chemotherapy and bolstering the lifespans of people battling pancreatic cancer, bombshell research into the drug called daraxonrasib suggests it could be a major breakthrough.
Pancreatic cancer - which is a cancer that's found anywhere in the pancreas - is notoriously different to treat, which is why it has the highest mortality rate of all major cancers.
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It all depends on the size, type and location of it, as well as if it has spread and your general health.
Commonly, patients are offered surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and supportive care. However, if it is advanced, the NHS warns it is 'very hard to treat'.
"It may not be possible to cure the cancer," it explains. "If this is the case, the aim of your treatment will be to limit the cancer and its symptoms, and help you live longer."
Time is truly of the essence when it comes to pancreatic cancer, as more than half of people diagnosed with it die within three months of finding out the news.
According to UCLA Health, it is extremely difficult for both the patient and doctors to diagnose, as the symptoms are often obscure, while medics find tumours 'impossible to see or feel during a medical exam'.
"Making diagnosis even more difficult is the fact that in its early stages, pancreatic cancer is usually a so-called 'silent' disease and causes no symptoms," it states.
"It’s only when the cancer has reached an advanced stage and begun to spread throughout the body that physical effects appear. Even then, they can be similar to those of other diseases and conditions."
Symptoms include jaundice, itchy skin, darker pee, paler poo, unexplained weight loss, tiredness, a high temperature, nausea, pain at the top of your stomach or back and indigestion-like sensations.
'Grand slam' trial results
Now, researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston have announced that they have made an 'exciting' step towards helping pancreatic cancer patients live for longer.
Experts have hailed the results of a study conducted into daraxonrasib as 'unprecedented' and a 'grand slam', while one even admitted they were left in tears by the outcome.
The trial involved 500 patients - in North America, Europe, and Asia - who each have pancreatic cancer that had spread.
Out of these, 248 were given daraxonrasib, a daily pill, to see what impact it had on their health - and boffins were blown away when they discovered what it can do.
According to the research, the survival time for the 252 patients who relied on chemotherapy was 6.6 months, while those who took the tablet survived for 13.2 months.
Patients who consumed daraxonrasib also reported experiencing a lot less side-effects in comparison to those who underwent chemotherapy.
It works by preventing the pancreatic cancer from spreading any further, as it locks onto the mutated KRAS gene - which is found in over 90 percent of these kind of tumours and encourages cancer growth - before shutting it off.
The breakthrough was unveiled by US scientists at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco) annual meeting in Chicago.
“While not curing the cancer, it is a very large step forward,” Dr Zev Wainberg, who helped lead the study, said.
Dr Rachna Shroff, the chief of oncology at the University of Arizona Cancer Center and an Asco expert in gastrointestinal cancers, described the results as 'landscape-changing'.
The expert, who was not involved in the study, said: "We are seeing unprecedented survival. The idea of targeting KRAS has always been the holy grail in most malignancies, but specifically in pancreas cancer, because it is nearly ubiquitous and it is an early driver of pancreas cancer growth. The Ras revolution is here, and this study is proof of principle that targeting KRAS in pancreatic cancer is feasible and effective.”
'Exciting development'
Dr Shroff admitted that the results had a profound effect on her when she first read them, as she said: "Having treated pancreatic cancer for 16 years, I actually started crying in clinic.
"This is such an incredibly impactful study for our patients, and I really congratulate the [trial] investigators."
Asco's chief medical officer and executive vice-president, Dr Julie Gralow, heaped similar praise on the researchers and described the trial as a 'game changer', adding: "I’ve heard this study described as a home run. I would actually say it’s a grand slam."
The director of services, research and innovation at Pancreatic Cancer UK, Anna Jewell, said the daraxonrasib trial was one of 'the most exciting developments we have seen in pancreatic cancer for a very long time'.
"More time with those we love most is truly priceless," she added. "We must do everything possible to ensure the most promising new treatments are available here in the UK."
Olivia Burke