Pancreatic drug shows lung cancer promise

A drug recently approved for pancreatic cancer has demonstrated promising activity against a specific type of lung cancer in an early-stage clinical trial, though researchers noted significant side effects, including fatalities. The drug, daraxonrasib, sold under the brand name Rasonque, showed tumor shrinkage in a substantial portion of patients with previously treated, RAS-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The findings, published on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, in the New England Journal of Medicine, stem from a phase 1-2 study involving 136 patients. Response rates, defined as tumor shrinkage, ranged from 31 percent to 37 percent across different dose levels. In a posthoc analysis of 38 patients who had not yet received docetaxel chemotherapy, the objective response rate was 42 percent, with a median progression-free survival of 8.3 months and a median overall survival of 16 months. RAS mutations are common drivers in NSCLC, occurring in about 30 percent of cases. While targeted therapies exist for one specific variant, KRAS G12C, other RAS mutations lack approved targeted treatments, leaving patients with chemotherapy as the next option.