Pancreatic therapy reports

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest major cancers, and two April 2026 reports pointed to longer survival from two very different experimental approaches. (revmed.com, nature.com) One approach is a pill: Revolution Medicines said on April 13 that daraxonrasib, taken once daily after earlier treatment failed, extended median survival to 13.2 months from 6.7 months with intravenous chemotherapy in a phase 3 trial for metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. (revmed.com, cnbc.com) That study, called RASolute 302, also met its progression-free survival endpoint, and the company said it plans to use the data in a future U.S. Food and Drug Administration application and present them at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting. (revmed.com) A second approach is not a drug at all. Histotripsy uses tightly focused ultrasound pulses like a remote jackhammer to mechanically break up tissue, and a ClinicalTrials.gov listing says HistoSonics’ pancreatic study is a 50-patient feasibility trial for unresectable stage 3 or oligometastatic stage 4 disease. (clinicaltrials.gov) The Hong Kong report described the first two local pancreatic trial cases using histotripsy, but the registered study is still designed to test safety and feasibility rather than prove patients live longer. (thestandard.com.hk, clinicaltrials.gov) A third report focused on Dr. Devalingam Mahalingam at Northwestern University and a different experimental drug, elraglusib. In a phase 2 trial published in Nature Medicine on April 14, patients given elraglusib plus gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel lived a median 10.1 months versus 7.2 months on chemotherapy alone. (nature.com, news.northwestern.edu) That trial enrolled 233 patients across 60 sites in six countries, and one-year survival was 44% with elraglusib versus 22% in the control group. Mahalingam said a phase 3 trial is the next step. (nature.com, news.northwestern.edu, thestar.com.my) The three reports sit at different points on the evidence ladder. Daraxonrasib has phase 3 topline results in previously treated metastatic disease, elraglusib has peer-reviewed phase 2 data in previously untreated metastatic disease, and histotripsy is still in an early device trial aimed at showing the procedure can be done safely. (revmed.com, nature.com, clinicaltrials.gov) They also attack different parts of the problem. Daraxonrasib targets RAS-driven tumors, which Revolution says account for more than 90% of pancreatic cancers, while the Nature Medicine paper said elraglusib is a glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta inhibitor meant to change the tumor environment and immune response. (revmed.com, nature.com) For patients, the immediate takeaway is narrower than the headlines. One late-stage drug result may soon head to regulators, one earlier drug result is moving toward phase 3, and the ultrasound procedure in Hong Kong remains an early test of whether a noninvasive pancreatic treatment can work safely in people. (revmed.com, thestar.com.my, clinicaltrials.gov)