A New Pancreatic Cancer Drug Doubles Survival and Costs $39,800 a Month

The FDA approved the first targeted therapy for advanced pancreatic cancer on August 27, more than six months ahead of its own deadline. In the trial it extended median survival from 6.7 months to 13.2 months. A one month supply costs about $39,800.

What the Drug Does

The drug is daraxonrasib, sold as Rasonque and made by Revolution Medicines of Redwood City, California. It is approved for advanced metastatic pancreatic cancer that has stopped responding to prior treatment.

It targets KRAS mutations, which are present in more than 90 percent of pancreatic cancer cases. The trial enrolled 500 patients. Reported side effects include skin rash, mouth sores, diarrhea and other digestive problems.

What the Numbers Mean and Do Not Mean

Median survival of 13.2 months against 6.7 months on chemotherapy is roughly six and a half additional months. That is a substantial result in a disease that has resisted almost everything.

It is not a cure, and the doctors involved have been direct about that. Dr. Andrew Coveler of the Fred Hutch Cancer Center said this medicine is not a cure but a significant improvement. FDA Acting Commissioner Kyle Diamantas said it is the agency’s fundamental duty to deliver more cures and meaningful treatments to patients as quickly as possible.

The Price and the Question It Raises

At roughly $39,800 for a one month supply, what a patient actually pays depends entirely on how the drug is covered.

That determination has not been published. Whether it falls under Part B or Part D changes the arithmetic substantially for a Medicare patient, and no reader should assume a particular out of pocket figure until their own plan confirms it.

Why This Reaches This Audience

Pancreatic cancer is diagnosed most often in people in their sixties and seventies. For a family that has already been through a first line of chemotherapy and been told there is nothing else, there is now something else.

The drug is on the market now and an oncologist can prescribe it today. The unresolved part is not whether the treatment exists. It is what it costs the household that needs it.

References: FDA approves landmark pancreatic cancer drug that’s shown to improve survival