Sasse told the New York Times earlier this week in his first in-depth podcast interview since the diagnosis that he was able to enroll in the clinical trial for daraxonrasib through M.D. Anderson in Houston. He said the medication is “a nasty drug.”

“It causes crazy stuff like my body can’t grow skin, and so I bleed all out of a whole bunch of parts of me that shouldn’t be bleeding,” Sasse said. He appeared on video for the podcast, bleeding from his face.

The drug is not a cure for Sasse’s cancer, which has spread to other organs, including his lungs and liver. But he said it has shrunk the volume of tumors spread throughout his torso by 76% since December, considerably reducing his daily pain levels.

Daraxonrasib is one of the handful of drugs greenlit for fast-track clinical trials by the Food and Drug Administration under the commissioner’s national priority voucher initiative, created by FDA Commissioner Marty Makary in June 2025. 

The program is meant to drastically reduce FDA approval times for drugs that serve the national interests. Daraxonrasib was selected following promising early trials in part because there are few treatment options for pancreatic cancer.

Here is everything to know about daraxonrasib.

Why is a new treatment for pancreatic cancer exciting?

Pancreatic cancer is particularly lethal because it is difficult to detect in early stages, often presenting symptoms only when it has already widely spread.

Sasse said in the podcast interview that his diagnosis of stage 4 pancreatic cancer came on suddenly last fall. He said he originally mistook his intense back pain for strained muscles after training for a triathlon, but in reality, his cancer had spread to various parts of the body and was inoperable.

According to the American Cancer Society, there will be roughly 67,500 new pancreatic cancer diagnoses in the U.S. in 2026, and nearly 53,000 people with the disease will die this year.

Pancreatic cancer has a dismal survival rate, depending upon when it is diagnosed.

Patients whose cancer is localized around the pancreas have a 44% chance of surviving five years after their diagnosis. For those such as Sasse, whose cancer has spread to distant parts of the body, such as the lungs and liver, the five-year survival rate is only 3%.

What makes daraxonrasib different from other treatments?

Because in most cases the disease has progressed to late stages by the time it is diagnosed, there are few traditional treatment options available for pancreatic cancer other than chemotherapy and radiation.

But early clinical trials from Revolution Medicine involving 83 patients showed that daraxonrasib was able to shrink tumors in at least 29% of patients and stop tumor growth in more than 90% of participants.

The results of the company’s first major randomized controlled trials, involving 460 patients, are expected this year.

Daraxonrasib is used in patients with particular genetic mutations that create damaged proteins. These proteins effectively get stuck in the “on” position and cause cancer cells to proliferate rapidly.

Instead of targeting the protein itself, the drug works by blocking the growth signal that tells the body to make more cancer cells. Scientists thought that mechanism would hinder cellular and tumor growth, ultimately doing more harm than good. But, so far, that fear has not been realized.

Brian Wolpin, a director of pancreatic cancer research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, told the Washington Post when daraxonrasib got fast-tracked by the FDA last fall that it might be “the turning point for the field of pancreatic cancer.”

He said the drug “feels like the foundation on which we can really build effective treatments.”

What are the side effects like?

Reports from early daraxonrasib clinical trials indicate that 90% of patients experienced skin rashes, and 52% experienced diarrhea. 

The company also said in recent reports that some patients experienced “scaliness or thickening of the skin” and painful inflammation in the mouth and gums.

Sasse said in the interview that his skin felt “nuclear,” a bubbling, burning sensation. He also described an exchange in which a pharmacist, after seeing his face, asked him if doctors had done “something electrical” to him.

“I don’t even know what that is, but either acid or electric shocks produce a face that looks this hideous,” Sasse said.

Nevertheless, Sasse said his pain levels have gone down significantly after starting the oral medication, allowing him to reduce his morphine intake and consequently feel less tired.

What does the fast-track FDA approval mean?

The commissioner’s national priority voucher program was established to prioritize drug reviews that align with national interests, including lowering drug costs and addressing diseases with limited treatment options.

Under the new approval pathway, the agency seeks to make its drug approval decisions within one or two months, compared to the upwards of 10 months for standard reviews and six months for traditional priority reviews.

Daraxonrasib is one of the handful of drugs that have been selected for the voucher program. Other drugs include medications for infertility, Type 1 diabetes, deafness, blindness, and a rare blood disorder.

Critics of the voucher program have argued that rushed projects could undermine public trust in the agency or create the opportunity for corruption between administration officials and drugmakers who stand to benefit from fast approval times.

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Market research analysts have predicted that daraxonrasib could reach $7.4 billion in unadjusted peak sales.

The FDA will be evaluating the program with a public comment listening session scheduled for June 12.