alt.hn

5/31/2026 at 3:43:29 PM

Daily pill can double survival time for deadliest cancer, trial shows

 https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/31/daily-pill-daraxonrasib-double-survival-time-pancreatic-pancreas-cancer-clinical-trial

by c-oreills

5/31/2026 at 4:32:54 PM

Derek Lowe’s writeup is good: https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/progress-against-p...

by amluto

5/31/2026 at 6:10:56 PM

> The company says that the drug was generally well tolerated, but that’s on the oncology scale.

> ...

> He’s been on daraxonrasib since early this year, and describes it this way: “. . .it’s a nasty drug. It causes crazy stuff like my body can’t grow skin and so I bleed all out of a whole bunch of parts of me that shouldn’t be bleeding” If you go to that link above, be prepared, because he also looks like he’s had aqua regia thrown all over him (and apparently feels a bit like that, too). But his tumor volume has gone down by about 75%, and there’s a very strong chance that he wouldn’t still be alive at all without having gone on the drug.

by matheist

5/31/2026 at 6:56:22 PM

I am in the enviable position to not be actively dying from an untreatable disease, so obviously haven’t seen things from the other side of this sort of situation.

But to me, that doesn’t sound like a life worth living. Obviously different people will have different thresholds for when to throw in the towel, and I’m glad that we are finding medicines to allow people to make the choices that align with their own drives.

Still, I can’t help but think that this is the sort of life virtually none of us would choose to inflict on our pets, even if cost was no option. We give them a far more graceful exit from this world than we give ourselves, and I think that’s worth considering.

I am truly terrified of death. I wish I wasn’t, but an infinity of nonexistence somehow seems unbearable (though, obviously, it will be trivial to bear in practice). I still hope that when my time comes, I will find the strength to exit gracefully if my life ever gets to the point where each day is filled with pain and discomfort, and where I can’t actually take part in any of the things I enjoy about life.

I hope that this is only a temporary treatment for this guy to get the tumor to a point where it can be operated on or treated with other therapies. Because his life sounds like a living hell and that breaks my heart.

by stouset

5/31/2026 at 5:14:11 PM

The founders of Lovable and Builder.ai individually received more funds than the whole group of the researchers behind this medicine...

by rvnx

5/31/2026 at 6:03:09 PM

That’s like talking about the ROI of a winning lottery ticket.

We can’t know ahead of time which medicine works so you need to fund many teams at the beginning.

by Retric

5/31/2026 at 5:31:24 PM

Totally naive question: is this a situation where stacking the drug with chemo might be even better?

by mrandish

5/31/2026 at 6:25:13 PM

"survival" is the wrong word; its terminal. honestly the drugs and chemo and treatments they put pancreatic patients through for possibly a few more (not very nice) weeks is almost criminal. a good doctor will tell you to go make the most of those 3 months post diagnosis. that said its nice to see progress against one of the worst cancers out there and i hope it leads to genuine breakthroughs. but this drug is nothing anybody wants, even if they think they do

by modzu

5/31/2026 at 6:58:24 PM

> "survival" is the wrong word; its terminal.

No one actually knows that one way or the other since some patients were still taking it after the study ended according to the article.

by infamia

5/31/2026 at 5:04:30 PM

I hope they can get this to people quickly. Someone I love has been diagnosed with stage 3 end of Feb this year and it's utter hell. For everyone, not just the patient.

by chilldsgn

5/31/2026 at 5:26:01 PM

While not fully approved, the company has early access available to people who meet the treatment criteria and would potentially benefit. Their HCP should evaluate this (it's not all types of pancreatic cancer, and it's not a silver bullet - but it looks like its double the survival time than current chemo). Hopefully this evolves into a new class of treatment.

by thowland

5/31/2026 at 5:53:23 PM

Always a money-generator.

Researchers need to find permanent cures.

by shevy-java

5/31/2026 at 6:00:10 PM

Always baffling to me that people accuse researchers and doctors, people who have devoted their life to helping others, of brazen greed and deception. With no evidence, of course. Maybe the accusation says more about you than about them?

by hackyhacky

5/31/2026 at 6:29:26 PM

The researchers and doctors probably have better motives but the pharmaceutical industry wants nothing more than getting you on a lifetime of prescriptions. They are just like street dealers but they dress better and blend in with normal society.

by SoftTalker