The FDA yesterday approved Daraxonrasib, which in a clinical trail had shown that advanced pancreatic cancer patients could live twice as long as those who got chemotherapy.
The drug is poised to transform care for the disease, according to a story by Gina Kolata, Rebecca Robbins, and Carolyn Y. Johnson in today's editions of The New York Times. Daraxonrasib, the article says, "is not a cure, but it is the first treatment to substantially extend the lives of patients with pancreatic cancer."
The breakthrough drug, which will be sold under the brand name Rasonque, was approved for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer who already tried chemo.
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| Dr. Anna Berkenblit |
The costly drug, which is taken twice a day, will have "a sticker price of $39,800 a month, or about $478,000 when patients take it for a full year," the Times piece reports. The vast majority of the cost is expected to be covered through insurance.
Pancreatic cancer kills more than 50,000 people in the United States annually.
The researcher who led the key study, Dr. Brian Wolpin of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, the article notes, "said in an interview that he was stunned by the trial results..."I have not seen anything like [them] before in trials we have run...I just kept repeating, 'Wow.'"
But Daraxonrasib, the story continues, "often causes side effects like rash, diarrhea, fatigue, and nausea. Several patients who took the drug in clinical trials said the side effects could be harsh."
