By Sriparna Roy
April 13 (Reuters) – Revolution Medicines’ experimental oral drug helped patients with pancreatic cancer live nearly twice as long as those treated with chemotherapy in a keenly anticipated late-stage trial, sending its shares surging 40% on Monday.
Patients who received the once-daily pill, daraxonrasib, showed a median overall survival of 13.2 months compared with 6.7 months for those on chemotherapy, the standard of care.
At least two analysts said investors had set a bar of 11-12 months for overall survival, which is the duration from disease diagnosis until death.
The pill targets RAS mutations, which drive tumor growth and are found in more than 90% of pancreatic cancer cases.
The study enrolled previously treated patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) who had tumors harboring a wide range of RAS variants, as well as those without an identified RAS mutation.
“This effectively unlocks daraxonrasib becoming the next standard of care in PDAC,” J.P.Morgan analyst Brian Cheng said.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Leonid Timashev estimates a more than $5 billion sales opportunity for daraxonrasib in PDAC alone in the U.S.
Pancreatic cancer is among the most deadly forms of cancer globally, with one of the lowest five-year survival rates of any cancer, often cited around 13%.
HOME-RUN SCENARIO
The trial met all main and key secondary goals, including improving survival without the progression of the disease.
The data is “unequivocally practice-changing and supportive of a rapid, high-impact launch,” Evercore ISI analyst Cory Kasimov said.
Revolution plans to submit these data to global regulatory authorities, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The company has received the FDA’s priority voucher, which is intended to accelerate the development and review of drugs.
“This is a home-run scenario,” Cheng said, adding that there is a potential for the pill to get approval by the end of this year.
The pill is also being evaluated in other late-stage trials, including in PDAC and non-small cell lung cancer.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
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