Being diagnosed with cancer of any kind is scary, but being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer adds even more stress and worry. That's a very tough cancer to beat, and even though advancements have been made in treatment and surgery, it still has a significantly high mortality rate and is the third-leading cause of cancer death.

Now a new drug has received broad approval from the FDA and that could signal hope for those diagnosed with the awful disease.

Rasonque (Daraxonrasib) is a once-daily pill that inhibits RAS, a group of proteins that drive growth in most pancreatic cancers. According to the FDA, patients who took this drug lived a median of 13.2 months, versus 6.7 months on standard chemo. They also had a 60 percent lower risk of death, and both progression-free survival and response rates improved.

This is, sadly, not a cure for the disease but it is progress in improving survival rates.

Channing Der, Ph.D., at UNC Lineberger talked about this "monumental moment."

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"I have been moved to tears by the significance of this moment, because there is now hope for cancer patients," Dr. Der said. "Pancreatic cancer, previously, when diagnosed, was basically a death sentence. Over 95 percent of pancreatic cancers have a mutation in one of the RAS genes, KRAS. And RAS is at the opposite end of the spectrum of druggability, such that it acquired a reputation of being an undruggable target."

"The momentum is here," he continued, "if we cannot maintain that momentum, it would be a challenge to continue to make significant advancements moving forward."

“This drug showed unprecedented results in an area of high unmet need,” said Angelo de Claro, M.D., director of the FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence. “The approval was granted 6.5 months before the user fee deadline, demonstrating the FDA’s commitment to accelerating the approval of new cancer treatments for patients with serious and life-threatening conditions.” 

And acting FDA Commissioner Kyle Diamantas called the approval of the drug “a critical new option for patients facing an extraordinarily difficult and historically hard-to-treat cancer."