According to The Guardian, pancreatic cancer is among the most lethal types of cancer.
The disease is often detected at a late stage, and many patients are not diagnosed until the cancer has already spread.
As a result, doctors have had limited treatment options for many years, according to information presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago.
Researchers have long searched for more effective treatments, but progress has been limited.
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Blocking a protein
Much of the research has focused on the protein Kras, which drives the growth of most cases of pancreatic cancer.
According to researchers, mutations in the Kras gene are found in more than 90 percent of patients with the most common form of the disease.
The new drug, daraxonrasib, has been developed to block the Kras protein and thereby slow the progression of the disease.
Researchers also believe that similar treatments could eventually play a role in treating other cancers, including lung and colorectal cancer.
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A longer life
A clinical trial involved 500 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. Patients who received daraxonrasib survived for an average of 13.2 months.
By comparison, patients who received chemotherapy survived between 6.6 and 6.7 months.
The trial also showed fewer side effects than traditional treatments.
According to The Guardian, several independent experts have described the findings as one of the most significant advances in pancreatic cancer treatment in many years, as the average survival time was nearly doubled.
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Sources: The Guardian and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
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