A new pancreatic cancer drug doubled median survival time, a significant, if imperfect, advance against a stubborn disease.

While most cancers’ treatment has improved, pancreatic cancer remains intractable.

Most patients die within months of diagnosis. Daraxonrasib boosted survival from six months to 13, meaningful against a disease where progress is usually measured in weeks. But it suggests that RAS-inhibitor drugs, which target mutations driving tumor growth, could be effective — there was skepticism they would ever work — and it may offer some patients real hope where previously there was little.

One former US senator diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer told The New York Times that daraxonrasib shrank his tumor 76%, albeit with “crazy” side effects, including a painful, bloody facial rash.