Every once in a while, an advance in treating cancer is so stunning that doctors get chills. Such is the case for Revolution Medicines¡¯ pancreatic cancer therapy daraxonrasib, which in a late-stage study allowed patients with advanced disease to live twice as long as those who only received chemotherapy.

That¡¯s an astounding advance for a cancer where experimental treatments have tended to offer progress measured in days or weeks, if at all. Giving patients and their families more months of time together ¡ª another birthday, another Christmas, a family reunion ¡ª would be truly meaningful.

It also lays a foundation for the entire field of researchers and drug developers to build from: What if instead of adding months to someone¡¯s life, future progress allows doctors to realistically talk about years?