Breakthrough pancreatic cancer drug could reach Czechia within months

In late August, the US approved a new drug called daraxonrasib for the treatment of pancreatic cancer — one of the most aggressive and hard-to-diagnose forms of cancer. The medicine is now undergoing accelerated review by the European Medicines Agency, meaning Czech patients could gain access to it within just a few months, says Associate Professor Michal Vočka, head of the oncology clinic at the 1st Faculty of Medicine of Charles University and the General University Hospital in Prague.

How the new drug works

Daraxonrasib belongs to a class of drugs known as RAS inhibitors, which block proteins produced by mutations in RAS genes. These proteins can trigger abnormal cell division and tumour growth. According to the doctor, the drug essentially "switches off" this harmful signal inside the cell.

Nearly double the survival rate

According to Vočka, this is the first drug in a long time to genuinely change the prognosis for some patients. In clinical trials, it was used as a second-line therapy — that is, after previous treatment failed to produce the desired effect. The results were striking: overall patient survival nearly doubled, reaching around 13 months compared with under 7 months on standard therapy.

For a diagnosis with such limited treatment options today, this marks a major breakthrough, the specialist notes. At the same time, he cautions that the new drug is not automatically suitable for every patient and does not solve the core problem with pancreatic cancer — the disease is most often detected at a late stage, when treatment options are already significantly limited.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz