U.S. cancer centers are scrambling to enroll patients in an early access program for a promising pancreatic cancer drug from Revolution Medicines.
The FDA allowed the expanded access program on May 1, less than three weeks after Revolution said daraxonrasib doubled survival in a clinical trial for advanced pancreatic cancer.
"The public caught wind of the FDA announcement... triggering a deluge of patient requests," said Dr. Daniel King, medical oncologist at Northwell Health.
The drug targets a genetic mutation found in about 90% of pancreatic cancers. In the trial, median survival was 13.2 months for daraxonrasib versus 6.7 months for chemotherapy.
"Doubling survival is a big deal. It's not a cure, but a breakthrough we can build on," said Dr. Gulam Manji of Columbia/New York-Presbyterian.
The expanded access program requires physicians to submit individual requests to Revolution Medicines. If approved, details go to the FDA.
About 67,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer annually, and 53,000 die from the disease.
