New findings presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) suggest that a drug called daraxonrasib improved survival compared with standard chemotherapy across multiple groups of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

The findings build on earlier results from a trial showing that patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer who received daraxonrasib lived a median of 13.2 months, compared with 6.7 months in those receiving standard chemotherapy.

Over 90% of pancreatic cancers have mutations in RAS genes, which help control cell growth. These genes can continuously send signals that drive cancer growth. This new study involved collecting detailed molecular information on all RAS mutation subsets, providing a detailed molecular analysis.

Daraxonrasib is a targeted therapy meant to block multiple forms of the active RAS protein, including both mutated and nonmutated forms. It also may be effective across a wider range of pancreatic tumors. The drug received FDA approval in August.

In the trial, researchers found that survival outcomes consistently favored daraxonrasib over chemotherapy across the RAS mutation groups examined, including patients whose tumors didn’t have an identified RAS mutation.