Published Apr 30, 2026

The Science Behind Former U.S. Senator Ben Sasse’s ‘Miracle’ Drug Daraxonrasib That’s Shrinking His Tumors & Offering Hope Amid Late-Stage Pancreatic Cancer

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Daraxonrasib Brings Renewed Optimism to Pancreatic Cancer Studies

Ben Sasse has revealed that a “miracle” drug called Daraxonrasib has significantly reduced his tumors and restored hope while metastatic pancreatic cancer has deepening his faith and self-awareness.
Daraxonrasib, a targeted RAS-inhibiting therapy, has shown significant survival benefits over chemotherapy in late-stage trials for pancreatic cancer.
Dr. Anna Berkenblit, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer at Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN), tells SurvivorNet. “The news from [drugmaker] Revolution Medicines that their RAS inhibitor, called daraxonrasib, approximately doubles overall survival in patients with previously treated, metastatic pancreatic cancer is huge. This is a truly remarkable result.”
Pancreatic cancer is a type of cancer that forms in the pancreas. It can be challenging to treat because symptoms usually don’t present themselves until the cancer has spread or metastasized. Symptoms may include unexplained weight loss, back pain, jaundice, and pain in the abdomen.
Early-stage pancreatic cancer tumors don’t appear on imaging scans, and people typically don’t experience symptoms until the disease has progressed. The pancreas’ location in the abdomen makes it harder to find tumors. Treatment options for pancreatic cancer may include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy.
The SurvivorNet Clinical Trial Finder and websites called Clinicaltrials.gov and PubMed are great resources to use if you’re considering experimental treatment for a disease you or a loved one are battling. These databases can also help you find doctors who specialize in your disease.

Former Nebraska Senator and president of the University of Florida Ben Sasse, 54, recently spoke out in a televised interview about his stage-four metastatic prostate cancer, which he’s been battling with a “miracle” drug showing promise.

Speaking on CBS News “60 Minutes,” the father of three and husband of 31 years to Melissa McLeod, Sasses shared he has restored hope thanks to the targeted therapy drug Daraxonrasib.

When asked “what changed” in his mindset of expecting not to live this long after his diagnosis, Sasse said, “Providence, prayer and a miracle drugs.

He continued, in the interview aired on Sunday, April 26, “In mid-December, I was given a three to four life expectancy. I am on extended time already. I have pancreatic-origin cancer that has metastasized a number of places.

“So I’ve got lung, vascular, liver … liver is pretty far along.” When asked whether he had “five cancers,” he agreed.

Sasse also noted he has “much, much less pain” than he initially had around the time of his diagnosis.

“And I have a massive 76% reduction in tumor volume over the last four months,” he explained.

When it comes to his faith, and belief that God has “put him to this test,” Sasse said, “Death is wicked, death is evil, and death is not how it’s supposed to be … and me getting a cancer diagnosis, again, is pretty small in the grand scheme of things, but it’s a touch of grace.

“Because it forces me to tell the truth, and the lie I want to tell myself is that I’m the center of everything and I’m going to be around forever … and I can work harder and store up enough that I can atone for my own brokenness … I can’t.”

After insisting how he “hates cancer,” he admitted he’s also “grateful for it,” as he’s now more honest with himself now than ever before.

Sasse’s ‘Miracle’ Drug Daraxonrasib Could Double Survival For Some With Advanced Pancreatic Cancer

Daraxonrasib, a targeted therapy currently under investigation, may represent a major advance in pancreatic cancer treatment as it’s designed to directly targeting tumor growth mechanisms instead of relying on chemotherapy.

In a phase 3 clinical trial, daraxonrasib, which targets mutations in RAS proteins, showed marked improvement in survival compared to conventional chemotherapy for patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

“The news from [drugmaker] Revolution Medicines that their RAS inhibitor, called daraxonrasib, approximately doubles overall survival in patients with previously treated, metastatic pancreatic cancer is huge,” Dr. Anna Berkenblit, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer at Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN), tells SurvivorNet. “This is a truly remarkable result.”

In the trial, median overall survival was 13.2 months in patients on daraxonrasib, compared with 6.7 months in those receiving chemotherapy, Revolution Medicines reports. This is one of the biggest breakthroughs in the treatment of pancreatic cancer in the era of precise oncology.

Extraordinary Clinical Results: RAS Inhibitor For Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer

Daraxonrasib is an inhibitor of RAS(ON) proteins. In simple terms, the drug inhibits the active RAS protein that helps pancreatic tumor cells grow. Over 90% of all pancreatic cancers have RAS mutations, Dr. Berkenblit explains. Although this fact had long been known, no effective treatment had previously emerged.

Dr. Berkenbilt adds, “We anticipate the drug will move up into earlier lines of therapy and not just daraxonrasib, but RAS inhibitors in general.

“If it works this well in patients with previously treated metastatic disease, we’re really excited about the potential of it working even better in frontline or untreated metastatic patients, and maybe even in the adjuvant [after surgery] setting for the small percent of patients who are diagnosed with early-stage, localized disease that can be surgically removed.”

Current Status & Availability

While daraxonrasib has shown impressive results in clinical trials, its widespread accessibility will depend on regulatory approval. As the phase 3 trial in ongoing, it is currently in an “investigational” stage and has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

It was granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation by the FDA for the treatment of patients with previously treated, metastatic PDAC with G12 mutations.

Revolution Medicines has said it plans to submit the results to the FDA and other health authorities and to present the data at the 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting, which will kick off on May 29, 2026.

Understanding Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer is a type of cancer that forms in the pancreas. It is more challenging to treat because symptoms usually don’t present themselves until the cancer has spread or metastasized. Symptoms may include weight gain, back pain, and jaundice.

Pancreatic cancer often comes with a slim chance of survival due to difficulty detecting it when it is more treatable.

Although pancreatic cancer survival rates have been improving, it’s still considered to be largely incurable. An exception to this is if the tumor is still small enough and localized enough to be operated on.

WATCH: Pancreatic cancer and early detection.

In a previous interview with SurvivorNet, Dr. Anirban Maitra, the co-leader of the Pancreatic Cancer Moon Shot at MD Anderson Cancer Center, explains what he typically sees when patients develop this disease.

“Because the pancreas is inside the abdomen often doesn’t have symptoms that would tell you that something is wrong with your pancreas,” he says.

“By the time individuals walk into the clinic with symptoms like jaundice, weight loss, back pain or diabetes, it’s often very late in the stage of the disease.”

Meanwhile, parents, siblings and children of someone with pancreatic cancer are considered high risk for developing the disease because they are first-degree relatives of the individual. PGVs (pathogenic germline variants) are changes in reproductive cells (sperm or egg) that become part of the DNA in the cells of the offspring. Germline variants are passed from parents to their children, and are associated with increased risks of several cancer types, including pancreatic, ovarian and breast cancers. Germline mutations in ATM, BRCA1, BRCA2, CKDN2A, PALB2, PRSS1, STK11 and TP53 are associated with increased risk of pancreatic cancer.

Jessica Everett, a genetic counselor at NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, encourages people in this category to look into possible screening options.

“If you’re concerned about pancreatic cancer in your family, start by talking to a genetic counselor to learn more about your risk and what options you have,” Everett told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview.

Additionally, note that up to ten percent of pancreatic cancer cases are caused by inherited genetic syndromes. So, if two or more members of your family have had pancreatic cancer, or if you have pancreatic cysts, it’s worth asking your doctor to check for pancreatic cancer since you’re at high risk.

The National Cancer Institute identifies pancreatic cancer symptoms to include:

Dark urine
Pain in the abdomen
Unexplained weight loss
Light-colored stools
Loss of appetite and fatigue

Treatment options for pancreatic cancer may include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy.

More Progress in Pancreatic Cancer

Progress has been made over the last few years in the world of pancreatic cancer treatments. One clinical trial recently found that the drug Onivyde, in combination with chemotherapy in the so-called Nalirifox regimen, helped patients live longer compared with chemotherapy in previously untreated patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (mPDAC), according to Ipsen, the pharmaceutical company that bought the drug.

“The prognosis for people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer is extremely poor and we plan to submit these new findings to the regulatory authority as, if approved, we believe this regimen could offer up an important new treatment option for people living with an aggressive and hard-to-treat cancer,” Howard Mayer, Executive Vice President and Head of Research and Development for Ipsen, previously said. “We thank the patients who participated in the study, their families and their healthcare teams.”

The drug is currently approved in the U.S., Europe, and Asia in combination with fluorouracil and leucovorin as a treatment for mPDAC after disease progression and following gemcitabine-based therapy.

Another example of progress being made comes in the form of immunotherapy, a type of cancer treatment that uses your own immune system to fight cancer.

“Up until now, immunotherapy hasn’t had a big role,” Dr. Allyson Ocean, a medical oncologist at Weill Cornell Medical Center, previously told SurvivorNet.

Dr. Allyson Ocean explains why pancreatic cancer is so hard to treat.

A clinical trial led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and sponsored by the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, found “combination of chemotherapy with an immunotherapy meant to unleash the anticancer capacity of the immune system was effective against one of the hardest targets in cancer care, pancreatic cancer,” said Penn Medicine.

“The researchers found that in 34 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer randomized to receive the immunotherapy nivolumab with two chemotherapy drugs, nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine, had a one-year survival rate of 57.7 percent, significantly greater than the historical average of 35 percent with chemotherapy alone,” the institution said.

Dr. Benjamin Musher, the director of medical oncology at the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, recently said there were currently multiple “home-grown clinical trials testing novel immunotherapies in all stages of pancreatic cancer studies underway at Baylor St. Luke’s.” But only about 5 percent of patients with pancreatic cancer participate in such studies.

“We know that we are not going to improve outcomes without more patients enrolling,” Musher said.

Hope In Clinical Trials

In addition, there are immunotherapy clinical trial innovations being made to allow for multiple immunotherapeutic approaches to be tested and compared to one or several standard-of-care options within trials. In other words, “investigational treatments can be added or dropped from the trial over time, depending on preclinical and clinical evidence.”

“We’re encouraged by the trend toward more innovative clinical trial designs to improve the drug development process and ultimately lead to better patient outcomes,” PanCAN Chief Science Officer Lynn Matrisian said in a recent article from the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

Clinical trials, in general, are research studies that compare the most effective known treatment for a specific type or stage of a disease with a new approach.

Dr. Beth Karlan, a gynecologic oncologist with UCLA Health, previously told SurvivorNet that clinical trials can play an important role for some patients’ treatment, but they also serve a larger purpose.

“Clinical trials hopefully can benefit you, but it’s also providing very, very vital information to the whole scientific community about the effectiveness of these treatments,” Dr. Karlan said. “We need everyone to be partners with us if we’re ever going to truly cure cancer or prevent people from having to die from cancer.”

That being said, there is no guarantee you’ll receive more effective treatment than the standard of care, and clinical trials certainly aren’t right for everyone. You should always talk with your doctor(s) before getting involved in one. Some risks to consider are:

The risk of harm and/or side effects due to experimental treatments
Researchers may be unaware of some potential side effects for experimental treatments
The treatment may not work for you, even if it has worked for others

But if you’ve already decided that a clinical trial is right for you or you’re just beginning to explore your treatment options, you should know that SurvivorNet has a tool for you. The SurvivorNet Clinical Trial Finder: an A.I. driven tool for patients to find clinical trial options for treatment.

The tool is built on top of clinicaltrials.gov, a database maintained by the U.S. government that compiles privately and publicly funded clinical trials conducted around the world, and gives access to more than 100,000+ individual clinical trials, updated daily.

“Clinical trials are critical to the development of new therapies, and as we live through this extraordinary revolution in genomics, immunotherapy and targeted therapy, it’s clear that one of the most pressing needs for patients, clinical trials sponsors, and researchers is simply a better way to find patients,” SurvivorNet CEO Steve Alperin said.

“Even one percent more people successfully enrolled in clinical trials can change the world.”

Understanding Clinical Trials

Clinical trials are available for eligible cancer patients if other treatment options don’t seem to work. A clinical trial can be defined as a research study that compares the most effective known treatment for a specific type or stage of a disease with a new approach.

Participating in one does not guarantee you will get the most effective treatment and they are certainly not for everyone, but it does give you the chance to potentially access new, cutting-edge treatments while advancing science.

Before getting involved in a clinical trial, talk with your doctor(s) and consider the following general risks of enrolling:

The risk of harm and/or side effects due to experimental treatments
Researchers may be unaware of some potential side effects for experimental treatments
The treatment may not work for you, even if it has worked for others

“Even one percent more people successfully enrolled in clinical trials can change the world.”

Why I’d Choose a Clinical Trial For Myself

Your doctor may have spoken with you about possibly enrolling in a trial if you have advanced disease or if there’s a drug that’s currently considered investigational that may work better than the standard for you.

A lot of patients may feel uncomfortable about the thought of participating in a trial, but the trials can provide amazing opportunities for patients. For one thing, they give patients access to a bevy of new drugs that are currently being developed by pharmaceutical companies.

If participating in a clinical trial is something you think you may be interested in, the government has a list of trials that are currently ongoing. SurvivorNet also has a tool to help you find trials for your particular disease.