Amy Johnston is distraught and readily admits that she is “grasping at straws.” Diagnosed last year with pancreatic cancer, she has had chemotherapy and surgery and is now enrolled in a clinical trial hoping to delay progression of the disease. By the end of this month, she expects to know if the treatment is working; if it’s doesn’t, she and her physician plan to seek access to  another drug that, while still technically experimental, is causing a sensation.
The drug, called daraxonrasib and developed by Revolution Medicines, nearly doubled overall survival time in pancreatic cancer patients in a clinical trial. It is now being offered through an expanded access program, which allows critically ill people to receive an experimental medicine outside of such a study.
But for Johnston and other patients, the excitement has come with anxiety. On one hand, there is optimism that the treatment — expected to be approved as a second-line therapy — can prolong their lives.
STAT News published a clinical update in Research Highlights on 04 Jun 2026.
The item focuses on STAT+: For pancreatic cancer patients, an exciting drug can feel out of reach.
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