In a major medical development, the oral targeted drug daraxonrasib (brand name Rasonque), which was recently approved by the FDA for advanced pancreatic cancer, has demonstrated powerful antitumor activity against non-small cell lung cancer…@@@
In a phase 1/2 clinical trial, the daily pill shrank tumors in 31% to 37% of patients carrying notoriously difficult-to-treat RAS gene mutations.
These genetic mutations drive about 30% of lung cancer cases worldwide and have long been considered ‘undruggable,’ leaving patients with very few options once standard chemotherapy fails.
Led by researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the trial enrolled 136 patients whose lung cancers had already progressed on chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Beyond shrinking tumors, daraxonrasib kept the cancer from worsening for a median of 8.3 months, with patients achieving an encouraging median overall survival of 16 months. Because the oral therapy specifically targets a wide array of RAS mutations, it represents a potentially monumental paradigm shift. A global phase 3 trial is already underway, bringing hope of a highly effective, chemo-free alternative to thousands of lung cancer patients.
source: Arbour, K. C., Punekar, S., Luo, J., et al. (2026). Daraxonrasib for previously treated RAS-mutant non-small-cell lung cancer. New England Journal of Medicine.