2026 AACR Annual Meeting Gives Hope for the Future
Pancreatic cancer research is moving forward at an accelerated pace.
The 2026 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting, held April 17-22 in San Diego, California, highlights the latest advances in cancer science and medicine, including cancer biology, translational and clinical studies, prevention, and other vital topics. As always, Let’s Win is bringing you a few of the pancreatic cancer highlights from this important meeting. And we will cover these, as well as others, in more depth in the upcoming months.
mRNA Vaccine Provides Robust Immunity for Some Patients
Researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) in New York City have shown that some rare long-term pancreatic cancer survivors naturally mount CD8⁺ T cell responses against highly immunogenic mutation-derived proteins called neoantigens. Surgeon–scientist Vinod Balachandran, M.D., director of The Olayan Center for Cancer Vaccines at MSK, revealed long-term data from a phase I trial of personalized RNA neoantigen vaccines in pancreatic cancer. The vaccine is designed to recognize neoantigens unique to each patient’s cancer. The data presented shows that more long-lasting responses to immunotherapy can be achieved for a pancreatic malignancy.
Sixteen patients received the vaccine alongside atezolizumab (Tecentriq) and chemotherapy after surgery to remove the tumor. After a median of 4.2 years of follow-up, the eight patients with pancreatic cancer who had vaccine-induced T cell responses to the vaccine had significantly prolonged survival compared to their counterparts who did not have responses to the therapeutic vaccine (3.4 years vs. not reached). Seven of the eight vaccine responders (87.5%) continue to be alive for six years after surgery, as compared with two of the nonresponders (25%).
Due to these promising results, a large-scale phase II randomized trial is now underway to confirm these findings.
KRAS Inhibitors Take Center Stage
Once thought to be “undruggable,” KRAS research is exploding. This meeting highlighted next-generation KRAS inhibitors, and the focus on combination strategies forovercoming resistance.
Daraxonrasib Showing Great Promise
Data from Revolution Medicines, developer of the KRAS inhibitor daraxonrasib, show the drug elicits significant antitumor activity both in a combination approach as well as a monotherapy approach. Daraxonrasib is being evaluated in four global phase III clinical trials: three in pancreatic cancer (two ongoing and one completed) and one in non-small cell lung cancer. Data from the pivotal phase III RASolute 302 clinical trial in patients with previously treated metastatic pancreatic cancer was released earlier in April. In this trial, all primary and key secondary endpoints were met. The phase III RASolute 302 trial found a median overall survival of 13.2 months with daraxonrasib, compared to just 6.7 months for patients on standard-of-care chemotherapy. The agent has received FDA fast-track (via a National Priority Voucher) status for potential accelerated approval in late 2026 or early 2027.
Among 40 patients treated with daraxonrasib plus gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel, the confirmed objective response rate was 58% and the disease control rate was 90%, reported Brian Wolpin, M.D., M.P.H., of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. As of a December 1, 2025 data cutoff, 40 patients with previously untreated RAS mutant metastatic pancreatic cancer received daraxonrasib 200 mg once daily in 28-day cycles plus gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel given on a Day 1 and Day 15 schedule. This combination had a manageable safety profile.
Median progression-free survival and median overall survival were not mature at the data cutoff. But the six-month landmark progression-free survival was 84%, and the six-month landmark overall survival rate was 90%. (Landmark progression-free survival is a method in clinical trials that measures the proportion of patients alive and without disease progression at a specific, predetermined time point, such as six or 12 months, after starting treatment.)
Daraxonrasib as First-Line Treatment
In this multicenter trial, Eileen O’Reilly, M.D., of MSK, and colleagues reported on daraxonrasib used alone in patients with previously untreated RAS mutant metastatic pancreatic cancer. These patients received daraxonrasib 300 mg daily in 21-day cycles. In these patients, the safety profile observed for daraxonrasib was generally consistent with the reported safety findings for daraxonrasib monotherapy in previously treated patients.
Daraxonrasib demonstrated encouraging preliminary antitumor activity. There was an objective response rate of 47%, including one complete response, and a disease control rate of 92%. Six-month progression-free survival was 71% and overall survival was 83%.
VS-7375 Also Showing Promise
Verastem Oncology showcased their work in pancreatic cancer with three poster presentations focusing on the drug VS-7375. This agent is a selective oral KRAS G12D dual ON/OFF inhibitor. It is the lead program from the Verastem Oncology discovery and development collaboration with GenFleet Therapeutics. Verastem initiated VS-7375, an international phase I/II clinical trial, in June 2025 in the U.S.; it is evaluating the safety and efficacy of VS-7375 in patients with advanced KRAS G12D mutant solid tumors. In July 2025, U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Fast Track designation to VS-7375 for the first-line treatment of patients with KRAS G12D-mutated locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer and for the treatment of patients with KRAS G12D-mutated locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer who have received treatment with at least one prior line of standard systemic therapy.
Targeting KRAS With a G12D Degrader
As a KRAS degrader, setidegrasib (ASP3082) uses a different approach against the KRAS mutation. This drug tags and destroys the cancer-causing protein produced by KRAS G12D,. Wungki Park, M.D., M.S., of MSK, led the first clinical trial for this new type of agent. Results were published in the March 2026 New England Journal of Medicine. The study demonstrated benefit and safety in both lung and pancreatic cancers that had advanced on prior treatments. According to the study, among patients with pancreatic cancer, some 25% responded to the drug, and the median overall survival was 10 months. Before joining the trial, two out of three patients had failed on two other lines of treatment.
These are early days, but it’s clear that pancreatic cancer research is moving in the right direction. There are numerous other topics worthy of further coverage, such as data from noted vaccine researcher Elizabeth Jaffee, M.D., of Johns Hopkins Medicine (Baltimore, Maryland), who showcased investigations focusing on making pancreatic tumors more responsive to therapy by addressing immune-excluded environments. And, of course, the role of AI in medicine and research is a hot topic.
Stay tuned to Let’s Win as we take a deeper dive into these important research efforts.
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