Pancreatic cancer remains notoriously lethal, but new treatments are changing that outlook. Vicky Stinson, diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2024 at stage III, was initially told by a doctor she had “months—not years—to live.” She declined to accept that prognosis and pursued experimental treatments. “I have this drive and I want to keep going,” says Stinson, 65, a retired landscape architect with the National Park Service.
Breakthrough Therapies
Stinson benefited from daraxonrasib, a drug that targets and kills cancer cells with a common mutation. The medicine is in a new class of genetically engineered drugs called RAS inhibitors. In preclinical studies, daraxonrasib outperformed chemotherapy, enabling patients to live three to four times longer, or 8 to 9 months without disease progression on average—compared to 2-3 months with chemotherapy. About a third of patients experienced moderate to severe side effects like rash and diarrhea, though none discontinued the trial as a result. Stinson participated in the trial for 13 months and said the biggest benefit was ease: a single pill, not an hourslong infusion.
Other promising approaches are also advancing. An individualized mRNA vaccine designed and manufactured for each patient in Germany, based on their cancer’s genetic profile and administered within 9 weeks, activated an immune response in half of a group of 16 patients, extending life for most by 6 years. Additionally, a technique called “tumor treating fields” involves attaching electrodes to the skin and sending high-frequency electrical signals to kill pancreatic cancer cells and activate the immune response without adding toxins.
Ongoing Hope
Stinson’s cancer returned in late March at stage IV in her ovaries, and she had to stop the daraxonrasib. She remains engaged with researchers and hopeful for additional breakthroughs, saying “it feels like it’s so close” and expressing hope that “this just might work for me.”
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://us.headtopics.com/news/she-s-trying-to-outrun-pancreatic-cancer-breakthrough-83258564