Metastatic pancreatic cancer is the first indication for this class of RAS-inhibitor, but it certainly won't be the last, and it seems certain that there will be many many more cancers where this drug gets approved. There are mutations to activate KRAS in a substantial fraction of cancers across many organs, and but it's been such a hard protein to target with a drug that even decades ago I was told it was "undruggable."
What's going on with this new drug is a somewhat novel mechanism: instead of gumming up the enzymatic action of the protein, it acts as a glue between KRAS and a common "helper" protein, that then mucks up the RAS signalling. This sort of molecular glue mechanism has had a few examples built up over the past decade, but this is a really knock-it-out-of-the-park drug. Really amazing, and because of it lots of people are focusing lots of effort on how to discover more molecular glues.
My dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December 2019 and thankfully caught wind of it in its early stages due to an eagle-eyed nurse going over some routine blood work and noting his liver numbers were off, he should talk to the doctor.
You can imagine how hard it was to be sick in the early days of COVID, much less have to go to the hospital on a regular basis to receive chemotherapy for hours on end. Our family was lucky that he responded well to treatment at least and we had a few extra years with him before he passed away in late 2023.
Cancer is a terrible thing but pancreatic cancer is especially horrible due to the difficulty in detection when you're in otherwise good health. The fact that intense medical research into retrovirals has yielded something so significant as the RAS-inhibitor is nothing short of miraculous.
Beyond the data, this approval is notable for the speed from FDA acceptance of their new drug application (NDA) to FDA approval - just over a month. Compare this to the typical 8-12 month timelines we've historically seen for priority and standard reviews, respectively. This was enabled by the FDA's CNPV Pilot Program [0]
My dad passed in 2020 from pancreatic cancer. He'd been to the doctor several times complaining about issues and all they would do is send him home with laxatives. Eventually it got bad enough my mom ran him to the ER when they found the cancer which had progressed into its final stages already. He was dead less than a month later.
Similar story with a guy I worked with. He went home sick one day. A few days later our boss told us he was sick and had pancreatic cancer. He came into the office to say goodbye to us a few weeks later and then died about 10 days after that.
FWIW it's commonly the case with cancers of abdominal organs: stomach, pancreas, liver, kidney, etc. These cancers are frequently not diagnosed until at an advanced stage. Symptoms tend to be nonspecific, overlap with ubiquitous conditions like constipation, gastritis.
A goal of research is improving early detection of these cancers but it's an uphill battle. It's difficult to increase providers' "index of suspicion" of seemingly "minor" complaints.
That’s a generalization, pancreatic cancer is often extremely lethal, depending on the type and case the survival rate can be as or more grim than glioma. Bowel and urinary cancers including kidney cancer are often very treatable and survivable when discovered due to symptoms. I don’t think it’s helpful to group all abdominal cancers as being uniquely or especially bad or late discovered. Likewise for the particularly aggressive or advanced cancers these types of announcements and trials rarely translate to major changes in prognosis. More typical if there is any positive result it looks like additional weeks or at best months of aggressive treatments rather than significant ”cure” rates.
Absolutely terrible. As human beings, we should be prioritizing solving these kinds of problems. I don't think we need to live forever, but a graceful ending later in life remains an objective we haven't fully realized for everyone.
We do. There’s something like half a billion dollars spent on pancreatic cancer research annually in the United States alone. It’s a giant money pit and that’s created an enormous body of research, increased understanding of the biology of the cancer and just how insidious it is, and funded the careers of thousands of scientists, technicians, academics and administrators, but very little of all this translates into better treatment outcomes. There’s no evidence than just pouring more money into cancer research is going to give us a miracle cure. There are competing priorities starved for funding to that we know can use meaningful help. Not incidentally some of those include financial aid, medical care and quality of life assistance for the actual patients and their families, as well as prevention.
What's going on with this new drug is a somewhat novel mechanism: instead of gumming up the enzymatic action of the protein, it acts as a glue between KRAS and a common "helper" protein, that then mucks up the RAS signalling. This sort of molecular glue mechanism has had a few examples built up over the past decade, but this is a really knock-it-out-of-the-park drug. Really amazing, and because of it lots of people are focusing lots of effort on how to discover more molecular glues.
I'm glad to see a drug like this developed for people suffering from pancreatic cancer. I don't wish what my sister went through on anyone.
Damn if I don't wish it had come a little sooner.
You can imagine how hard it was to be sick in the early days of COVID, much less have to go to the hospital on a regular basis to receive chemotherapy for hours on end. Our family was lucky that he responded well to treatment at least and we had a few extra years with him before he passed away in late 2023.
Cancer is a terrible thing but pancreatic cancer is especially horrible due to the difficulty in detection when you're in otherwise good health. The fact that intense medical research into retrovirals has yielded something so significant as the RAS-inhibitor is nothing short of miraculous.
Previous discussion following the data presentation at ASCO: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48517199
[0] https://www.fda.gov/industry/commissioners-national-priority...
Similar story with a guy I worked with. He went home sick one day. A few days later our boss told us he was sick and had pancreatic cancer. He came into the office to say goodbye to us a few weeks later and then died about 10 days after that.
Fuck cancer
First sign in May, followed by several doctor visits which treat the symptoms.
In late July, he heads to the ER. Multiple tests later, he and his wife get the diagnosis.
He dies less than three months later.
see https://www.wired.com/story/the-day-i-found-out-my-life-was-...
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Pausch#Cancer_and_death
CMU posted an HD version of his Last Lecture - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayPMfopCe1g
A goal of research is improving early detection of these cancers but it's an uphill battle. It's difficult to increase providers' "index of suspicion" of seemingly "minor" complaints.