Rewinding 2025: A Year in Pancreatic Cancer Research

University of Liverpool Faculty of Health & Life Sciences; Flickr

2025 was a challenging year for cancer research.

Federal funding cuts led to hiring freezes and canceled research projects, halted clinical trials, caused funding disruptions and other upheavals. For a rare disease like pancreatic cancer, which already gets a smaller slice of funding, it was clear that researchers, physicians, advocates, and patients needed to speak up. And that they did. Physician–scientists like Elizabeth Jaffee, M.D., of Johns Hopkins Medicine (Baltimore, Maryland), spoke to Let’s Win about her efforts and those of others to keep the momentum of cancer research going strong so the great strides being made in the last few years can continue.

Despite the ongoing challenges, there is bipartisan support for cancer research, so pancreatic cancer research continued to make progress. The past year saw some very promising research focused on targeting mutant RAS proteins, immunotherapy, earlier detection, and novel drug combinations. Here are just a few of the highlights.

All Eyes On Daraxonrasib

In October 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Orphan Drug Designation to daraxonrasib (RMC 6236). Orphan Drug Designation is awarded by the FDA to selected investigational drugs to encourage the development of therapies for rare diseases, which are defined as conditions affecting fewer than 200,000 individuals in the U.S. 

Daraxonrasib is a RAS(ON) multi-selective inhibitor for the treatment of pancreatic cancer, developed by Revolution Medicines. RAS driver mutations are present in nearly all pancreatic cancer cases. Daraxonrasib is being studied in a global phase III clinical trial, RASolute 302, in patients with second-line metastatic pancreatic cancer. Two additional phase III clinical trials in pancreatic cancer are set. RASolute 303 is focused on first-line treatment in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer and a trial for adjuvant treatment in patients with resected pancreatic cancer is dubbed RASolute 304. In December 2025, Revolution Medicines announced the first patient has been randomized in the RASolute 304 trial.

Daraxonrasib suppresses RAS signaling by blocking the interaction of RAS(ON) with its downstream effectors. It does so by targeting oncogenic RAS mutations G12X, G13X and Q61X, common drivers of major cancers, including pancreatic cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and colorectal cancer. You can read more about daraxonrasib on Let’s Win.

Tumor-Treating Fields—Disrupting Cancer Cell Division With Electricity

The addition of tumor-treating fields (TTFields) to gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) resulted in superior overall survival in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer, according to a study published in May 2025 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

In the phase III PANOVA-3 trial, patients who received TTFields had an 18 percent improvement in overall survival vs. chemotherapy alone. These patients also had improvements in quality of life and pain control. PANOVA-3 is the first phase III trial in patients with unresectable, locally advanced pancreatic cancer to show an overall survival benefit over gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel. TTFields use an electrical field delivered by a portable device worn by the patient. The field disrupts cancer cell division while triggering a more robust immune response.

Let’s Win has covered TTFields and you can learn more straight from the investigators.

Neuroendocrine Tumors—A New Standard of Care

Cabozantinib, an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), was approved by the FDA in March 2025 for the treatment of patients with previously treated advanced neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). This represents a new standard of care therapy.

The FDA approval was based on results from the CABNET study, a phase III pivotal trial evaluating cabozantinib compared with placebo in two groups of patients with previously treated NETs: advanced pancreatic NETs and advanced extra-pancreatic NETs. Cabozantinib works by targeting multiple pathways involved in tumor growth and angiogenesis. Study participants survived significantly longer with no worsening of their disease compared to patients who received a placebo. Final progression-free survival results were published in September 2024 in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Let’s Win has an update on the exciting advances being made in treatments for neuroendocrine tumors.

The Lustgarten Foundation—A Banner Year

In September 2025, the Lustgarten Foundation, the nation’s largest private funder of pancreatic cancer research, announced a landmark year of funding, awarding 10 new grants to researchers at seven leading institutions. This monumental effort will help bolster critical pancreatic cancer research.

 These grants, totaling $13.85 million, support Lustgarten’s unique patient-centered mission which drives outcomes across three research pillars—early detection and interception, new drug development, and personalized medicine. Of these new awards, 14 percent support early detection and interception efforts, 66 percent support new drug development projects, and 20 percent support personalized medicine studies.

With the addition of these new grants, the Lustgarten Foundation supports 51 active grants across 29 institutions. The Foundation concentrates on translating its understanding of the underlying biology of pancreatic cancer into clinical applications to change, extend, and ultimately save patients’ lives.

World-Renowned Experts Share Their Research Breakthroughs

The annual and disease-specific meetings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) continue to attract the world’s leading experts in pancreatic cancer. Some of the highlights of the 2025 meetings include:  

• A new drug combination for resectable and borderline resectable disease shows promise, according to research presented at the ASCO 2025 meeting. For patients with resectable or borderline resectable pancreatic cancer, neoadjuvant treatment with a combination of cisplatin (P), nab-paclitaxel (A), capecitabine (X), and gemcitabine (G), known as PAXG, improved event-free survival compared with the modified FOLFIRINOX (mFOLFIRINOX) regimen (fluorouracil, irinotecan, and oxaliplatin), according to results of the phase III CASSANDRA trial. Results of the study showed that after a median follow-up of 24.5 months in the PAXG group and 26 months in the mFOLFIRINOX group, the PAXG regimen was associated with a median event-free survival of 16 months, compared with 10.2 months with mFOLFIRINOX. Event-free survival means an absence of the following: disease progression, recurrence, two consecutive CA 19-9 increases of 20 percent or more separated by at least four weeks, unresectability, intraoperative metastasis, or death.
• Reduced doses of liposomal irinotecan (Onivyde) and oxaliplatin did not cause worse overall survival (OS) outcomes in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer who were pretreated with liposomal irinotecan, oxaliplatin, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), and leucovorin (NALIRIFOX). The analysis, which was presented at the 2025 ASCO GI meeting, found that among patients in the NALIRIFOX arm who were part of the safety population, those who required dose reductions of liposomal irinotecan achieved a median OS of 12.6 months compared with 9.4 months in patients without a dose reduction of the agent. Similarly, dose reductions of oxaliplatin were associated with a median OS of 13.5 months compared with 7.7 months in patients who did not receive a dose reduction of oxaliplatin. According to the authors, similar overall survival results were found among subgroups of patients treated in North America and worldwide.
• At the AACR special conference on pancreatic cancer novel strategies focused on early detection and interception were presented. At Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Boston, Massachusetts), for example, researchers are looking to create a noninvasive, affordable, and easy-to-use screening tool for high-risk populations. The Wolpin–Nowak Lab is collaborating with cancer centers nationwide to collect data from patients with pancreatic cancer. This includes stool samples, genetic mutation data, imaging tests, and medical records. By analyzing these samples, researchers aim to find genetic and microbial “signatures” that indicate the presence of pancreatic cancer in its early stages.      
• At the AACR Annual Meeting, researchers from Johns Hopkins shared their data on the development of a vaccine that covers all six common KRAS mutations in pancreatic cancer: KRAS G12D, G12R, G12V, G12A, G12C, and G13D. The vaccine uses long peptide sequences corresponding to these KRAS subtypes. It presents the immune system with a small piece of the mutated KRAS protein, triggering a specific immune response that recognizes and attacks the mutated protein. The vaccine is being tested in clinical trials to evaluate its safety and efficacy. It holds promise for preventing pancreatic cancer in high-risk individuals by training their immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells expressing the mutated KRAS protein. 

Let’s Win Extends Its Reach

Providing information on the latest scientific breakthroughs, early-stage research, clinical trial updates, and new treatment options for pancreatic cancer is the foundation of Let’s Win’s efforts. To help broaden our reach, Let’s Win unveiled its first podcast in June 2025. The PancChat Podcast, which runs twice a month, is hosted by journalist Alisyn Camerota and is a collaboration between Let’s Win and the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN.) The podcast is built on the long-running PancChat that was on X. Episodes focus on educating patients through accessible conversations with leading experts and people directly affected by the disease. The 20-to-25-minute interviews have covered topics such as advocacy and collaboration, treatment and research, risk and early detection, surgery and clinical decision making, as well as clinical trials and precision medicine. So far, our PancChat Podcast has garnered some 6,500 listens. You can access the podcast on all major podcast apps and platforms, including YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Audible, and others.

Be assured, important advances in pancreatic cancer research and treatment will continue in 2026 due to the unwavering efforts of the scientific community. On behalf of all of us at Let’s Win, we wish you and those you love a new year filled with hope.