FDA approves new drug for advanced pancreatic cancer

The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved a groundbreaking new drug for advanced pancreatic cancer, offering U.S. patients a more effective treatment against one of the deadliest types of cancer.

FDA officials gave expedited approval to the first-of-a-kind pill, called daraxonrasib, which blocks a mutated protein that fuels tumor growth in more than 90% of pancreatic cancer cases. It's an approach that previously eluded drugmakers for decades.

The daily pills will be sold by Revolution Medicines under the brand name Rasonque. A one-month supply would cost approximately $39,800, the company announced.

Patients taking the drug nearly doubled their survival time, with fewer severe side effects, in a study that randomly assigned them to receive the experimental treatment or more chemotherapy. The company-funded study enrolled 500 patients whose metastatic, or spreading, cancer had quit responding to prior treatment.  Read more

This article provides the estimated numbers of new cancer cases and deaths in 2026 in the United States nationally and for each state as well as a comprehensive overview of cancer occurrence based on up‐to‐date, population‐based data for cancer incidence and mortality through 2022 and 2023, respectively. We also estimate the total number of cancer deaths averted through 2023 because of the continuous decline in the cancer death rate since the early 1990s.  Learn more...

Obesity is a disease in which a person has an unhealthy amount and/or distribution of body fat (1). Compared with people of healthy weight, those with overweight or obesity are at greater risk for many diseases, including diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and at least 13 types of cancer, as well as having an elevated risk of death from all causes (2–5).

To determine someone’s level of body fat, doctors commonly use a measure known as the body mass index (BMI). BMI is calculated by dividing a person’s weight (in kilograms) by their height (in meters) squared (commonly expressed as kg/m2). BMI is not a direct measure of body fat, but it provides a more accurate assessment of obesity than weight alone. It is a useful estimate of body fatness in populations but cannot be used on its own to  indicate obesity-related disease risks in individuals (6).

The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute has a BMI calculator for adults. The standard weight categories based on BMI for adults ages 20 years or older are:

BMI in kg/m2 Weight categoryBelow 18.5Underweight18.5 to 24.9Healthy25.0 to 29.9Overweight30.0 to 39.9Obese40.0 or higherSeverely obese

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a BMI percentile calculator for children and teens. Overweight and obesity for people younger than 20 years old, whose BMI can change significantly as they grow, are based on CDC’s BMI-for-age growth charts. 

BMIWeight categoryBMI-for-age below the sex-specific 5th percentile UnderweightBMI-for-age at or above the sex-specific 5th percentile, but less than the 85th percentileHealthyBMI-for-age at or above the sex-specific 85th percentile, but less than the 95th percentile OverweightBMI-for-age at or above the sex-specific 95th percentileObeseBMI-for-age at or above 120% of the sex-specific 95th percentile*Severe obesity*Based on recommendations from experts (7) 

Measurements that reflect the distribution of body fat are sometimes used along with BMI as indicators of obesity and disease risks. These measurements include waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio (the waist circumference divided by the hip circumference), waist-to-height ratio, and fat distribution as measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA or DEXA), imaging with CT or PET, or measurements of body shape (8).

These measures are used because the distribution of fat is increasingly understood to be relevant to disease risks. In particular, visceral fat—fat that surrounds internal organs—seems to be more dangerous, in terms of disease risks, than overall fat or subcutaneous fat (the layer just under the skin).  Read more...