{"id":6086,"date":"2026-08-26T22:44:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T22:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=6086"},"modified":"2026-08-26T22:44:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T22:44:39","slug":"why-wall-street-sees-a-39800-pancreatic-cancer-pill-as-proof-of-a-much-bigger-bet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=6086","title":{"rendered":"Why Wall Street sees a $39,800 pancreatic cancer pill as proof of a much bigger bet"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It\u2019s approved for adults with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma who have already tried one round of treatment or cannot receive combination chemotherapy, and doesn\u2019t require a test to identify a specific RAS mutation first. (Adenocarcinoma is cancer that begins in glandular cells, the cells that line organs and produce substances like mucus, digestive enzymes or hormones. It\u2019s one of the most common cancer types overall, and in the pancreas specifically, it accounts for 90% to 95% of all cases.)<\/p>\n

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Brian Wolpin, the trial\u2019s principal investigator and director of the Hale Family Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, said the approval \u201cgives physicians the confidence that directly inhibiting RAS can make a striking difference for patients.\u201d Anna Berkenblit of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network called it \u201cthe most significant advance we have seen in the fight against pancreatic cancer.<\/p>\n

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Fast-tracked FDA approval<\/h2>\n

The decision came 6.5 months before the FDA\u2019s user-fee deadline, aided by new changes in the agency which let international regulators review oncology applications alongside the FDA. \u201cThis drug showed unprecedented results in an area of high unmet need,\u201d said Angelo de Claro, director of the FDA\u2019s Oncology Center of Excellence.<\/p>\n

In the trial that led to approval, patients with previously treated metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma who took the drug lived a median of 13.2 months, compared with 6.7 months on standard chemotherapy, according to the company. Rasonque cut the risk of death by 60%, and patients went longer before their disease progressed and before pain and quality of life worsened.<\/p>\n

The application was reviewed under the FDA\u2019s National Priority Voucher pilot program, and the drug also carries Breakthrough Therapy and Orphan Drug designations \u2014 context that explains the compressed timeline without needing the unverified 6.5-month figure.<\/p>\n

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The drug targets a mutation in the KRAS gene found in nearly all pancreatic cancers and many cases of lung, colorectal and ovarian cancer. Revolution Medicines is already advancing daraxonrasib through late-stage lung cancer trials.<\/p>\n

Revolution Medicines set a list price of $39,800 for a 30-day supply, with eligible insured patients paying as little as $0 through a new support program. An expanded access program opened in May has already reached more than 2,000 patients.<\/p>\n

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The stakes explain why oncologists are calling this a breakthrough rather than an incremental gain.<\/p>\n

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Pancreatic cancer kills a disproportionate share of the people who get it. An estimated 67,530 Americans will be diagnosed in 2026, and about 52,740 will die from it, according to the American Cancer Society\u2019s Cancer Statistics 2026 report. It\u2019s the third-leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. and the only major cancer with a five-year survival rate below 20%, stuck at 13% for three years running even as survival across all cancers combined has reached 70%. About 80% of patients aren\u2019t diagnosed until the cancer has spread, Revolution Medicines said, and for them, five-year survival runs around 3%.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis to me is incredibly exciting,\u201d Nagda told Fortune<\/em>. \u201cI\u2019m obviously a shareholder of RVMD. I\u2019ve been very, very bullish on RVMD.\u201d<\/p>\n

RAS mutations appear in roughly a quarter of all human cancers, Nagda said. \u201cThink about how big of a platform this is,\u201d he said. \u201cInstead of developing one drug for just pancreatic cancer, they\u2019ve actually built an entire platform to go after this core issue called RAS.\u201d<\/p>\n

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RAS was long considered too difficult to target directly, Nagda said. \u201cYou didn\u2019t know how to shut it off, and this was a big issue.\u201d He described the mutation as a kind of switch. \u201cThere is a turn\u2014the mutation that occurs is an on switch of RAS, which makes the cancer grow faster,\u201d he said. \u201cSo essentially what they do is they go after this RAS-on inhibitor. They\u2019re literally turning the on switch off.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Because pancreatic cancer is among the hardest cancers to treat, Nagda said proving the drug works is significant. \u201cIt works in the worst one, which is pancreatic cancer,\u201d he said. \u201cSo now we know that this could really work for everyone.\u201d He said the approval means the drug can now be prescribed off-label for other cancers, and predicted heavy use beyond its approved indication. \u201cI expect off-label utilization of this to go wild,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Nagda drew a contrast with the mRNA cancer vaccines he discussed with Fortune<\/em> in coverage of Moderna and Merck\u2019s melanoma trial results. Those vaccines work by finding antigens on the surface of a cancer cell, he said, comparing the approach to targeting the spike protein in COVID-19 vaccines. \u201cThis affects the inside. It affects the molecular aspect of the cell,\u201d he said. \u201cSo now we can attack the cell on its surface, and now we can attack the cell on the inside.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Nagda predicted the two approaches, paired together, could transform cancer treatment within the decade. \u201cI think we are within five years of us having combination therapies that essentially get rid of the cancer,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are maybe half a decade away from the post-cancer era.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dr. Danish Nagda, a shareholder in the developer, told Fortune it was “incredibly exciting … maybe half a decade away from the post-cancer era.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Wall Street sees a $39,800 pancreatic cancer pill as proof of a much bigger bet - Cross Country Moving Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=6086\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Wall Street sees a $39,800 pancreatic cancer pill as proof of a much bigger bet - 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