A daily pill that doubles survival time wins Europe's backing for pancreatic cancer

For people whose pancreatic cancer has spread and kept growing after earlier treatment, options have been bleak. On 15 October, Europe's medicines committee (CHMP) recommended authorising Rasonque, a once-daily tablet whose active ingredient, daraxonrasib, switches off the RAS proteins that drive this cancer. In a phase 3 study of 500 patients, people on the tablet lived a median of 12.4 months, against 6.7 months on standard chemotherapy, and their disease stayed quiet roughly twice as long (7.2 months versus 3.6). The European Commission now decides on EU-wide authorisation. The review itself was fast-tracked under a pilot scheme for high-priority cancer medicines, finishing in under 150 days.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: policy reform