RAS, the cell growth gene mutated in roughly a third of cancers, was long called undruggable. Revolution Medicines just proved it isn't, and China's pipeline is closing in on the same target.
Revolution Medicines' daraxonrasib posted a 13.2-month median overall survival in previously treated metastatic pancreatic cancer, more than double the chemo benchmark. The result did more than extend lives. It validated a 30-year scientific bet that a single gene family called RAS could finally be drugged. Chinese biotechs are now closing in on the same target at earlier clinical stages, and the cleanest forward signal sits in a cluster of Chinese trial readouts expected this year.
RAS is a cell-growth switch. Mutations in the RAS family (KRAS, NRAS, and HRAS) sit behind roughly 30% of human cancers, including most pancreatic tumors, a third of lung cancers, and large shares of colorectal cancers. For decades, the field treated it as undruggable: the protein's smooth surface gave small molecules nothing to grab, and major oncology programs moved on to easier targets. Revolution Medicines' daraxonrasib, a RAS(ON) multi-selective inhibitor, broke that impasse. Its Phase 3 RASolute 302 readout, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, earned an ASCO plenary slot, reserved for studies the oncology community treats as practice-changing.
Jacobio Pharmaceuticals and several Chinese peers now list RAS programs in their pipelines, not just press releases. Jacobio has RAS-targeted assets on its corporate pipeline page, and trade press has tied at least one of its programs to an AstraZeneca collaboration. The SCMP business desk mapped the broader field: multiple Chinese biotechs are running RAS programs in parallel, often in combination strategies that pair SHP2 inhibitors with KRAS inhibitors or EGFR inhibitors with KRAS inhibitors, exploiting China's large patient population for faster enrollment.
Earlier-stage pipelines define the mechanism gap. Jacobio's listed RAS work sits in clinical, not pivotal, stages. The combination-heavy approach is rational, not a shortcut: blocking two nodes on the same growth-signaling pathway may delay resistance, which is what RAS-driven tumors use to escape single-agent therapy. Combinations also raise the bar on tolerability and trial design, and Beijing's policy support for domestic oncology assets shapes how those trials get priced and prioritized.
BioPharma Dive's ASCO coverage puts the US readout in clinical context. Pancreatic cancer is among the deadliest common tumors, where standard chemotherapy had extended life by only weeks at a time, and a drug that adds months rather than weeks is a meaningful win. The commercial opportunity runs into the billions per bank estimates cited in the SCMP piece, which is where the rerating argument lands. Several investment banks and oncology researchers quoted in that framing argue Chinese RAS-exposed biotechs trade at a structural discount to US peers like Revolution Medicines, and that the gap closes as Chinese trial data matures.
The thesis gets tested in the second half. The cleanest forward signal is not broker upgrades or company press cycles but specific Chinese RAS trial readouts, including Jacobio's combination readouts and similar moves from peers. If those data show comparable efficacy or a tolerable combination profile, the undervaluation argument gets evidence. If they do not, the gap is real and the China-US race on this target runs at the pace of clinical evidence, not policy support.
The pancreatic readout also points past pancreatic cancer. RAS being druggable in pancreatic cancer suggests the same logic may extend to the lung and colorectal tumors where the same mutations show up. Revolution Medicines frames daraxonrasib as the lead asset in a broader RAS strategy. Chinese biotechs are likely to follow, faster than the US field moved on lung-cancer KRAS in the early 2020s. The competitive geometry of the next two years is set: the target is open, the proof of concept is published, and the second-half readouts will decide who gets to sell the second-generation drugs.