The approval of daraxonrasib, a new life-extending drug for pancreatic cancer, is the biggest advance in decades against a notoriously hard-to-treat disease. But data readouts don’t show what those extra months mean to patients and their loved ones, or the immense resources it can take to access new medicines.
At last week’s STAT Summit in Boston, Dana Senaha told the story of her husband’s experience participating in the clinical trial for daraxonrasib. After Bobby Senaha’s cancer stopped responding to standard chemotherapy, the quest for treatment led their family to California, then Texas, and finally back home to Hawaii, where Bobby died on Aug. 25, 2024.