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Last Week in Biomedicine | May 30 – Jun 5 | Part 1 of 2: Daraxonrasib Pancreatic Cancer, Ivonescimab Lung

Last Week in Biomedicine··9 June 2026·21 min

About this episode

The biggest week in cancer research of 2026 dropped at the ASCO meeting in Chicago, and one drug stole the show: a new RAS-blocking pill that nearly doubled survival in metastatic pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest diseases in medicine. In Part 1 we cover: 1. Revolution Medicines — Daraxonrasib for metastatic pancreatic cancer (Phase 3) 2. Summit Therapeutics and Akeso — Ivonescimab for first-line squamous non-small cell lung cancer (Phase 3) 3. Eli Lilly — Selpercatinib for adjuvant RET fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer (Phase 3) Daraxonrasib targets RAS, the 'on switch' that drives roughly a third of all cancers and almost every pancreatic tumor. Unlike earlier RAS drugs that hit only one specific mutation, daraxonrasib blocks the active form of multiple RAS variants at once — and the result was a near-doubling of median overallsurvival from 6.6 months to 13.2 months in patients who had already failed first-line chemo. Doctors at the ASCO Plenary called the data 'transformative' and gave a standing ovation. We break down the science, explain why pancreatic cancer has been so untreatable, and walk through what RAS-ON inhibitors could mean for other tumors in the years ahead. Part 2 drops Thursday morning. Subscribe at TrialBreaks.com #oncology #pancreaticcancer #lungcancer #precisionmedicine #RAS #immunotherapy #bispecificantibody #PD1 #targetedtherapy #ASCO2026 #biomedicine #clinicaltrials #science