Updated
Updated · abcnews.com · Sep 3
Daraxonrasib Shrinks Tumors in 30% of 136 Lung Cancer Patients After Early Trial
Updated
Updated · abcnews.com · Sep 3

Daraxonrasib Shrinks Tumors in 30% of 136 Lung Cancer Patients After Early Trial

3 articles · Updated · abcnews.com · Sep 3

Summary

  • An early-phase trial in 136 patients with non-small cell lung cancer found daraxonrasib reduced tumor burden in more than 30% of participants whose disease had resisted prior therapies.
  • Response rates rose with dose—31% in the low-dose group, 34% in the mid-dose group and 37% in the high-dose group—suggesting activity against RAS-driven tumors.
  • Safety remains a hurdle: almost all patients reported side effects, and 54% had severe events including rash, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, pneumonia and low blood counts.
  • The pill was approved by the FDA last week for metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma after a 500-patient late-stage trial showed median overall survival of more than 13 months versus 6.7 months on standard chemotherapy.
  • For lung cancer—the leading cause of cancer death, with about 230,000 U.S. diagnoses and 125,000 expected deaths this year—the FDA would likely require larger late-stage trials before considering approval.

Insights

A new pill shrinks once-undruggable lung tumors, but with 54% facing severe toxicity, is the treatment too punishing to endure?
This pancreatic cancer breakthrough is conquering lung tumors, but how quickly will the cancer mutate to outsmart this new weapon?