After being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in May 2025, Keyhden Ramirez underwent a series of treatments, including chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
Pancreatic cancer drug helping former US Senator Ben Sasse now offered locally
Julie Anderson July 26, 2026 Updated July 30, 2026 Omaha World Herald
But her tumors were growing, so Dr. Mary Wells, her medical oncologist with Nebraska Cancer Specialists in Omaha, recommended that she consider a new program the independent oncology practice joined in June that would give her access to the investigational drug former U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse has publicly credited with slowing the march of his pancreatic cancer.
Through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Expanded Access Program, patients with previously treated metastatic pancreatic cancer can receive the investigational drug daraxonrasib while the FDA reviews it for approval.
Officials with the Omaha-based Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center also announced Wednesday that they are participating in the program, which will give eligible cancer center patients access to the medication.
The targeted therapy drug drew widespread attention this spring after Sasse said he was taking it as part of his treatment for metastatic pancreatic cancer.
In multiple interviews, Sasse credited the drug with giving him more time and improving his quality of life. His access to the drug was part of a separate clinical trial. He also discusses his cancer in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper airing Sunday.
Ramirez, 47, a married mother of four who lives in Papillion, said she told Wells she had heard good things about the drug. But she was afraid of potential side effects.
Wells assured her that she could manage side effects with medications, Ramirez said. Now in her third week of treatment, she has had a bit of nausea but otherwise feels well, a definite improvement from the side effects she experienced with chemo. At her recent two-week follow-up appointment, tests showed her tumor markers had dropped sharply.
“When you spend months seeing them going up and up … I wasn’t expecting that good news so quick,” Ramirez said.
Sasse’s discussions of the drug, coupled with the results of a phase 3 clinical trial presented in June, have generated a lot of excitement among pancreatic cancer specialists and patients.
Trial results found that the drug nearly doubled median survival to roughly 13.2 months from 6.7 months with standard second-line chemotherapy in previously treated metastatic pancreatic cancer patients.
One of the deadliest types of cancer, pancreatic cancer also is one of the most difficult to treat. Meaningful breakthroughs have been rare.
Dr. Kelsey Klute, a medical oncologist with the Buffett Cancer Center, said the trial results were greeted by a 42-second standing ovation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting.
Most people with pancreatic cancer are diagnosed after the cancer has already spread to other organs, she said. At that point their only option is chemotherapy, which can control the cancer for a time but often only for months.
“This new drug … is very exciting because it’s really the first thing in a long time that has shown a significant and meaningful benefit compared to chemotherapy,” Klute said.
Dr. Joel Michalski, a medical oncologist and president of Nebraska Cancer Specialists, said it’s important for patients to know that the medication is available locally so they can talk to their oncologist about whether the drug might be right for them.
Unlike a clinical trial, the Expanded Access Program allows doctors to request access to investigational drugs outside a research study for eligible patients. Also unlike clinical trials, the primary purpose of expanded access is treatment rather than research.
Revolution Medicine, the Silicon Valley firm developing the drug, received authorization from the FDA earlier this spring to offer expanded access. The company has applied to the FDA for approval of the drug under a new pathway intended to accelerate the review of medicines that address key national health priorities.
Nebraska Cancer Specialists currently has nine patients in the process of starting the drug through the program, including some like Ramirez who have begun treatment.
The independent oncology group’s physicians have privileges to practice at Methodist Health System and CHI Health hospitals. The group also has a presence in central Nebraska, sends doctors to West Point, Nebraska, and Council Bluffs, Iowa, and operates its own community oncology research program that offers patients access to clinical trials and expanded access programs.
“It’s been a huge benefit to patients, and we hope that by having this expanded access program we can keep patients here in Nebraska and still have access to this drug until it gets FDA approved,” said Ashley Servais, director of research with the group.
Klute said doctors at the Buffett Cancer Center have treated a few patients with daraxonrasib as part of clinical trials, including for other cancers, and have enrolled several in the expanded access program. It takes several weeks, however, for the drug to ship.
“As soon as I saw the data for how effective this was compared to chemotherapy, I knew that anything we could do to make this available to our patients, we had to do right away,” she said.
The drug, taken as a pill, targets a mutated protein known as KRAS that is involved in regulating cell growth and division. More than 90% of pancreatic cancers are driven by KRAS or related RAS mutations.
But such mutations also drive other cancer types, including many cancers of the lung and colon, which affect more people, Klute said. So while the results in pancreatic cancer are exciting, even more encouraging is the fact that the drug opens up new avenues for combination therapies as well as for use in other cancers and for potential use earlier in pancreatic cancer.
Sasse received the drug as a first-line therapy in a clinical trial at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Other drugs that work similarly are in various stages of development.
“This is a really exciting space,” Klute said. “There’s a lot happening, and I think there’s going to be a lot more to come.”
Michalski said it’s exhilarating to wake up each morning to emailed updates about promising new medications.
Ramirez, meanwhile, is focused on living her busy life. The drug is working, and if it gives her more time and the other medications can keep side effects down, she’d rather take them than chemotherapy.
“I know we have a time in this world and we don’t know how long we’re going to be here,” she said. “But what I ask is time, more time with the kids and family.”
For More Information on the Trial
To be eligible for the expanded access program, patients must have Stage IV pancreatic cancer that has stopped responding to chemotherapy. Those interested in enrollment are encouraged to call Nebraska Cancer Specialists at 402.334.4773 or visit NebraskaCancer.com to schedule an appointment.
To read the full article in the OWH, visit https://omaha.com/news/local/business/health-care/article_2fb4a8ab-c011-4988-b9ff-a85fad8895df.html
