Why did oncologists give a standing ovation to a data presentation on Revolution Medicines&#x27; pancreatic cancer drug, daraxonrasib? Why did biotech stocks perform so badly this week? And are concrete beaches better than normal beaches? We discuss all that and more on this week&#x27;s episode of “The Readout LOUD,” STAT&#x27;s biotech podcast. We bring on Leanna Stokes, who was diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer in 2023. She discusses how participating in RevMed&#x27;s trial for daraxonrasib has affected her disease and life, and what the drug means for patients and the field. We also chat about other data presented during last week&#x27;s meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the market reaction to Abivax&#x27;s ulcerative colitis data, and the upcoming meeting of the American Diabetes Association.

404: What RevMed's pancreatic cancer drug meant for one patient

The Readout Loud

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** The Readout Loud

## Participants

- **Allison DeAngelis** (STAT)
- **Adam Feuerstein** (STAT)
- **Elaine Chen** (STAT)
- **Leanna Stokes** (None)

## Transcript

Welcome to this week's episode of The Readout Loud, a weekly biotech podcast from STAT. I'm Allison DeAngelis. I'm Adam Feuerstein. And I'm Elaine Chen. It's Thursday, June 4th, and on this week's episode we'll speak with a mother of two boys who was diagnosed three years ago with metastatic pancreatic cancer. She joins us to discuss her diagnosis and treatment, which has included Revolution Medicine's Daraxin Rasib in a clinical trial. But first, a recap of the week's news and a word from our sponsor.

I'm Mika Kakifuta-Durink, SVP of Oncology at Gilead Sciences. At Gilead and Kite, our work in oncology starts with a simple question.

How do we make progress truly meaningful for patients? Since 2020, our therapy has been used to treat more than 75,000 people worldwide with metastatic triple negative and HR positive HER2 negative breast cancer. We bring that same patient-first mindset to other areas of high unmet need, including CAR-T cell therapy for people with difficult-to-treat blood cancers.

To date, over 34,000 patients around the world have been treated with CAR-T cell therapies from our portfolio. Across oncology, this perspective guides how we design clinical trials and pursue innovation so patients can access potential advances throughout their treatment journey. Learn more at Gilead.com. So, Adam, how was Chicago? Chicago was great. Elaine, you live there.

You know this is a nice time of the year to be in Chicago. The weather was fantastic. No rain. It was in the 70s. I didn't get to do a lot of sightseeing or fun stuff because obviously we were working, but it's always a nice time to be there. And I have to say the way that Chicago utilizes the lakefront, I think is really special.

Like, you know, like there's no, like it's just miles and miles of walking paths and trails along the lake, which I don't know. I really like that. Yeah, people make fun of the concrete beach, but at least we have the lakefront. And I would honestly rather lie on a beach than lie on a concrete slab than on sand. Yeah, I'm very anti-sand personally. I'm also anti-sun because I just burn, but that's another story.

All right, should we get into the biotech news, folks? Sure. Well, it has been a bloodbath for biotech stocks this week. As of yesterday's close, the XBI has fallen 5%. And I know there's a lot of people out there that are saying, damn, just as the XBI was really starting to regain traction. Elaine, tell us about one of the companies that experienced a major drop. Yeah.

So let's talk about Abivax, which I should caveat is not actually in the XBI, but, you know, it was kind of just like a major sell off broadly in the biotech industry. But Abivax specifically reported this week that its experimental treatment for ulcerative colitis showed significant eff...

404: What RevMed's pancreatic cancer drug meant for one patient

Transcript

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404: What RevMed's pancreatic cancer drug meant for one patient

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.