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

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