Pancreatic cancer breakthrough came from smart scientists making smart bets—not from politicization of science

The oncology community is still riding the high of the success of daraxonrasib—the first drug to show real promise in treating metastatic pancreatic cancer. The drug doubled overall survival for patients in the phase III RASolute-302 trial.At the same time, science continues to become increasingly politicized. The White House Office of Management and Budget released a 412-page proposal May 29 that inserts political appointees into all stages of reviewing and awarding of federal research grants, centralizes OMB control over awarding federal funds, lists “specific principles” that must be applied to review of research programs of all federal entities, including NIH.In this episode of In the Headlines, Paul Goldberg, editor and publisher of The Cancer Letter, and Jacquelyn Cobb, associate editor, talk about how these two stories are inseparable. Political review could put future breakthroughs like daraxonrasib in jeopardy when politicization of science is rooted in distrust.“I was actually thinking of talking to someone who understands Project 2025 to talk about the roots of this kind of dislike for science, which is…I mean, what's not like? Is a treatment for pancreatic cancer a bad thing?” Paul said.Daraxonrasib’s success is thanks to the decades of basic, translational, and clinical research that preceded it, largely funded by federal research dollars. Indeed, the NCI RAS Initiative jumpstarted the field of RAS in 2013. “To me, the best part of the story, your story, was going back to the link to the NCAB-BSA joint meeting where you could see these guys, with Harold Varmus presiding, deciding what they want to do with the RAS Initiative. By then, you had a pretty good idea that RAS mattered and that it was worth studying. There were already drugs and it was happening.”“It was not a waste of time, but it was also a bet. And it was a smart bet that only NCI could place, and that's why we need to have political appointees—on either party, I don't even care—to look at the entire process, lest those intellectuals get into their idiot heads to cure some other cancer. I mean, my God, that would be awful.”Stories mentioned in this podcast include:Pancreatic cancer finally starts to budge as daraxonrasib doubles overall survivalThe story of daraxonrasib is the ultimate hero’s journey: A narrative curve with twists, turns, intrigue, drama—and a blow to a mighty foe Political appointees to be inserted into all stages of making research funding awards if OMB rule becomes final At Senate hearing, Brown’s El-Deiry and other witnesses say they were targeted for arguing that mRNA vaccine may be linked to cancerEric Small, ASCO's immediate past president, speaks on the toll of toxicity—financial, emotional, physical—in cancerCancer patients could be exempted from Medicaid work requirements if they prove they are “medically frail” Richard Pazdur joins Friends boardA transcript of this podcast is available: https://cancerletter.com/podcastc/20260610-omb/