AbbVie (ABBV.US) denies negotiating the acquisition of cancer drug developer Revolution (RVMD.US)

AbbVie (ABBV.US) stated that the company has not been in negotiations to acquire the biotechnology company Revolution Medicines (RVMD.US) with a focus on cancer. In response to this news, Revolution Medicines' stock fell over 6% after market on Wednesday. Reports on Wednesday indicated that AbbVie was in "deep" discussions to acquire Revolution Medicines, with the potential deal valuing the latter, a company that has not yet brought a product to market, at over $20 billion. Boosted by this news, Revolution Medicines' stock rose over 28% in Wednesday's trading. Revolution Medicines' key asset in development is the pan-RAS inhibitor RMC-6236 (generic name Daraxonrasib). Daraxonrasib is an investigational oral targeted therapy, a direct-acting RAS (ON) multi-selective inhibitor, used to treat cancers driven by mutated RAS genes. It directly targets activated RAS protein, blocking its interaction with downstream signaling proteins and inhibiting sustained activation of the RAS signaling pathway, slowing the proliferation of tumor cells. Daraxonrasib targets common oncogenic RAS mutations, including G12X, G13X, and Q61X mutations, which are key drivers of major cancer types such as pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and colorectal cancer (CRC). Currently, Daraxonrasib is being evaluated in four global Phase 3 clinical trials, including three studies for PDAC and one study for locally advanced or metastatic RAS-mutant NSCLC. Revolution Medicines announced in December last year that the RASolute304 clinical trial had enrolled its first patient. RASolute304 is a global, open-label, Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of Daraxonrasib in resectable PDAC patients who have undergone surgery and completed chemotherapy. The trial plans to enroll approximately 500 PDAC patients with oncogenic RAS mutations who have undergone tumor resection surgery and received perioperative chemotherapy. The trial will evaluate whether Daraxonrasib can improve patients' disease-free survival compared to observation alone. According to industry research data, driven by Daraxonrasib, the pancreatic cancer treatment market could increase tenfold by 2035 to over $3 billion. In October last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) selected Daraxonrasib to participate in a new program aimed at expediting the approval process for promising drugs. Industry research suggests that Daraxonrasib could potentially receive approval for market entry as early as 2026.