For years, KRAS was the target cancer researchers kept circling and missing. Now a new drug has hit it in pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest cancers, and a major trial found it nearly doubled survival for patients with advanced disease.

KRAS (Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog) is a vital gene that directs cells to produce the K-Ras protein. The drug, daraxonrasib, targets the KRAS mutation that drives more than 90 percent of pancreatic tumors, according to The Conversation. Scientists had long considered KRAS “undruggable” because the protein’s surface is exceptionally smooth and lacks the molecular pockets that standard drugs need to bind to it.

Results from a Phase 3 clinical trial of 500 patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer were presented on May 31, 2026, by Revolution Medicines, the company developing the drug. All patients had already received prior treatment.

Compared with standard chemotherapy, daraxonrasib nearly doubled overall survival from 6.7 months to 13.2 months after diagnosis, The Conversation reported. Overall, the drug reduced the risk of death for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer by 60 percent.

Daraxonrasib is taken daily by mouth. Instead of binding directly to KRAS, it attaches to cyclophilin A, a molecule in cells that helps fold proteins into their final 3D structures. That protein complex can then bind to active KRAS and shut down its ability to signal cancer cells to multiply.

“For decades, successfully targeting the central mechanism that causes the vast majority of pancreatic cancers was considered impossible,” wrote Christopher Lieu, Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Colorado Anschutz, in The Conversation. “However, that narrative is rapidly changing with a new drug that can shut down the key protein that drives pancreatic cancer, nearly doubling survival rates for patients with advanced stages of the disease.”

The most common side effect was a prominent skin rash, which affected more than 86 percent of patients in the study. Patients also frequently had stomatitis, painful swelling and sores inside the mouth, as well as diarrhea, nausea and vomiting.

But The Conversation reported that patients taking daraxonrasib were far less likely to stop treatment because of severe side effects than those on chemotherapy, and they had improved quality of life with reduced pain.

“For a long time, the likelihood of surviving pancreatic cancer has been extremely low,” Lieu wrote. “For patients who were diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer between 2015 and 2021, about 97 percent died within five years of their diagnosis.”

The next step is regulatory review. The Conversation reported that Revolution Medicines will use the trial data to seek formal approval from the US Food and Drug Administration and other global regulatory bodies.

“When daroxonrasib becomes available to patients will depend on the review timeline,” Lieu wrote. “Should the drug obtain approval, it could be available in clinics within months.”

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