Why Wall Street sees a $39,800 pancreatic cancer pill as proof of a much bigger bet

Fortune · Catherina Gioino

The FDA approved Revolution Medicines’ once-daily Rasonque for adults with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma after one prior treatment or when combination chemotherapy can’t be used. The trial supporting the approval found a median survival of 13.2 months with Rasonque versus 6.7 months with standard chemotherapy, cutting the risk of death by 60%. The decision moves the RAS-targeting drug from development to routine prescribing and is expected to accelerate off-label use and continued trials including late-stage lung cancer studies.

Why it matters

Dr. Danish Nagda, a shareholder in the developer, told Fortune it was "incredibly exciting ... maybe half a decade away from the post-cancer era."