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Discussion (43 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews
What's going on with this new drug is a somewhat novel mechanism: instead of gumming up the enzymatic action of the protein, it acts as a glue between KRAS and a common "helper" protein, that then mucks up the RAS signalling. This sort of molecular glue mechanism has had a few examples built up over the past decade, but this is a really knock-it-out-of-the-park drug. Really amazing, and because of it lots of people are focusing lots of effort on how to discover more molecular glues.
I'm glad to see a drug like this developed for people suffering from pancreatic cancer. I don't wish what my sister went through on anyone.
Damn if I don't wish it had come a little sooner.
You can imagine how hard it was to be sick in the early days of COVID, much less have to go to the hospital on a regular basis to receive chemotherapy for hours on end. Our family was lucky that he responded well to treatment at least and we had a few extra years with him before he passed away in late 2023.
Cancer is a terrible thing but pancreatic cancer is especially horrible due to the difficulty in detection when you're in otherwise good health. The fact that intense medical research into retrovirals has yielded something so significant as the RAS-inhibitor is nothing short of miraculous.
Previous discussion following the data presentation at ASCO: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48517199
[0] https://www.fda.gov/industry/commissioners-national-priority...
We were incredibly lucky to even have that time with her. Pancreatic is one of the worst cancers someone can get — both for survival and quality of life.
I’m very happy to see that we’re finally making meaningful progress on treatment.
Similar story with a guy I worked with. He went home sick one day. A few days later our boss told us he was sick and had pancreatic cancer. He came into the office to say goodbye to us a few weeks later and then died about 10 days after that.
Fuck cancer
First sign in May, followed by several doctor visits which treat the symptoms.
In late July, he heads to the ER. Multiple tests later, he and his wife get the diagnosis.
He dies less than three months later.
see https://www.wired.com/story/the-day-i-found-out-my-life-was-...
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Pausch#Cancer_and_death
CMU posted an HD version of his Last Lecture - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayPMfopCe1g
A goal of research is improving early detection of these cancers but it's an uphill battle. It's difficult to increase providers' "index of suspicion" of seemingly "minor" complaints.
Childhood leukemia used to be overwhelmingly fatal, and early chemotherapy trials also only managed a couple months of remission. Researchers were even criticized for subjecting patients to harsh side effects to no apparent benefit. But thanks to that research, most patients are now cured; per capita death rates from childhood leukemia are down 14x from the 1950s, mostly driven by improved treatment.
Daraxonrasib is an incredible invention on a technical level, and a meaningful step forwards in the treatment of many cancers. We'll need a couple more equally incredible inventions to be able to cure pancreatic cancer.
Father in law started chemo a few weeks ago and his condition deteriorated quickly, he's been at the hospital since; switching between ICU and general care. His abdomen fills up with fluid, around 6 liters every 5 days, draining the fluid plunges his blood pressure and he end up in ICU. They supply Albumin until blood pressure stabilizes and send him back to general. Only after the first chemo session the oncologists have stopped the treatment saying he's no longer eligible for chemo because of his over all health.
We're lucky enough to live an hour away from Johns Hopkins (though that's not the hospital he's currently at) and had an appointment scheduled but had to cancel since he's unable to walk.
The oncologist mentioned that daraxonrasib was available as an option when he first started chemo, but said he would only be eligible for it after trying chemo, so we know the drug is available.
Are there any tips from HN on how we can approach getting this medicine for my father in law?
I would suggest you have your physician submit a Expanded access request immediately, because the same page says that they will close this program after FDA approval as they transition to commercial use, but the timeline for that is unclear.
I hope many others are helped by daraxonrasib, the key factor seems to be how early the cancer is detected, because it is an extremely fast acting disease.