PORTLAND, Maine (WGME) — It’s potentially new hope for pancreatic cancer patients.
The FDA has just given approval to a new drug to fight what has traditionally been one of the deadliest cancers.
The drug is called Rasonque, and it’s a pill designed to fight cancer in a novel way.
It attacks a mutated protein called KRAS that pancreatic, lung, and colon cancers feed on. They die without it.
In trials, the new drug has extended survival to more than 13 months, as opposed to only seven months for chemotherapy.
One patient here in Maine with stage four pancreatic cancer, Eugene Slobodzian, says it’s made a difference in his fight against the disease.
“It’s giving me time… time that I wouldn’t otherwise have, and it’s a lot easier to take pills than it is to do chemo,” Slobodzian said.
While no price has been announced, analysts are forecasting the drugmaker Revolution Medicines will charge several hundred thousand dollars per year.