November 1, 2026
By Tammy McCausland
As the world marks Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, one might be inclined to ask: Why are the statistics so sobering?
Among major cancers, pancreatic cancer has one of the lowest survival rates. The American Cancer Society’s Cancer Facts & Figures 2026, released in January, estimates that 67,530 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year and approximately 52,740 will die from it.1 The five-year relative survival rate sits at 13% for the third consecutive year.1 Despite being only the 11th most commonly diagnosed cancer in the U.S., pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death.1
Pancreatic cancer patients experience poorer outcomes because a lack of noticeable symptoms in the beginning stages makes early detection difficult.2 Symptoms that do present may be mistaken for other medical conditions.2 Diagnoses often come once the cancer has spread, which makes it harder to cure.2 And there is no diagnostic screening test for early detection. Approximately 17% of patients are diagnosed while the tumor is confined to the pancreas, when five-year survival is 44%.1 Once the cancer has metastasized to distant organs, that figure drops to just 3%.1
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) comprises approximately 90% of pancreatic cancers, and over 90% of these tumors are driven by mutations in the KRAS gene.3 KRAS belongs to the RAS family of genes, which produce proteins that function as on/off switches within cells.4 Typically, a RAS protein briefly switches on to signal cell growth, then deactivates itself. Cancer-causing mutations disrupt this “off” mechanism, causing the switch to remain active and the cell to receive a continuous signal to divide.4 The KRAS protein’s unusually smooth surface offers few points for drugs to attach.
mRNA vaccines show promise for treating pancreatic cancer. In 2019, Donna Gustafson was the first person in the world to receive an mRNA vaccine for pancreatic cancer.5 She was part of a clinical trial involving 16 pancreatic cancer patients, led by Vinod Balachandran, MD, at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Autogene cevumeran, a personalized mRNA vaccine developed by BioNTech and Genentech, is “a therapeutic vaccine that delivers mRNA encoding tumor neoantigens. These neoantigens are unique mutations that exist only in cancer cells and not in normal tissue, making them ideal for immune system targeting.”6 Gustafson received a personalized mRNA vaccine designed to reprogram her immune cells to recognize and kill mutant proteins on cancer cells.5 She received nine doses of the vaccine plus surgery and chemotherapy. Today she shows no signs of pancreatic cancer. The results from the small trial were sufficient to launch IMCODE003, a randomized phase 2 trial now enrolling patients at dozens of sites worldwide.
Other clinical trials are focused on drugs that can be used to help improve outcomes for pancreatic cancer patients. In August 2026, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved daraxonrasib (brand name Rasonque) for adults with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma who have had at least one prior therapy.7 It is the first RAS inhibitor for pancreatic cancer. Daraxonrasib works by first binding to a helper protein in the cell; together they block the jammed RAS protein from sending its “grow” signal.7 Daraxonrasib doubled median survival time (13.2 months) compared to chemotherapy (6.7 months). Patients also tolerated the side effects better.7 Trials testing it as a first-line treatment are now underway.
Efforts at earlier detection are also underway. At the Mayo Clinic, for example, a multidisciplinary team of scientists are using AI tools to build algorithms designed to systematically identify individuals at high risk for pancreatic cancer. They are also “discovering and validating novel imaging and molecular biomarkers for accurate early detection.”8
Pancreatic cancer remains one of the most challenging cancers, but these recent advances are offering hope that one day it will become easier to treat and increase survivorship.
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