Pancreatic cancer is one of the hardest cancers to detect and treat, and it is also decidedly lethal. In December, doctors informed him that he had three to four months to live, The Post reported. “I’m at Day 99 or something since then, and I’m doing a heck of a lot better than I was doing at Christmas,” the former Nebraska senator and University of Florida president said.
Sasse is participating in a clinical trial for daraxonrasib, a targeted therapy aimed at slowing pancreatic cancer by blocking the mutant proteins that drive the disease in most patients.
“I take it orally, but it’s a nasty drug,” he told the Times. “It causes crazy stuff like my body can’t grow skin and so I bleed all out of a whole bunch of parts of me that shouldn’t be bleeding.” He added that his skin and face feel “nuclear.” Advertisement
for those who remember the 90s, I didn’t inhale https://t.co/H6zq7ojwPQ
— Ben Sasse (@BenSasse) April 9, 2026
But the journey has been anything but simple
Advertisement Recently, a pharmacist, surprised by a patient’s appearance, asked if doctors had performed any “electrical” procedures on him. “I don’t even know what that is, but either acid or electric shocks produce a face that looks this hideous,” Sasse, who represented his state from 2015 to 2023, said with a chuckle.
Sasse left the Senate in January 2023 to become president of the University of Florida. He stepped down from that role in July 2024 after his wife, Melissa, was diagnosed with epilepsy.
Sasse later sought medical treatment after experiencing severe back pain, which he said was caused by pancreatic tumors pressing against his spinal column, The Post reported.
Advertisement Recently, a pharmacist, surprised by a patient’s appearance, asked if doctors had performed any “electrical” procedures on him. “I don’t even know what that is, but either acid or electric shocks produce a face that looks this hideous,” Sasse, who represented his state from 2015 to 2023, said with a chuckle
Advertisement Early-stage pancreatic cancer is often difficult to detect through imaging, which can delay diagnosis until the disease has progressed.
Sasse said he was prescribed 55 milligrams of morphine following his diagnosis to manage severe pain. In subsequent months, he reported that treatment with daraxonrasib reduced tumor size, allowing him to lower his daily morphine intake to about 30 milligrams and lessen side effects such as nausea and fatigue.
Sasse said his pain has decreased significantly, estimating it is about 80 percent lower than at the outset. He also reported a reduction in tumor volume in his torso of roughly 76 percent. Despite those improvements, Sasse said the cancer had already spread extensively, and doctors do not expect the treatment to fully eliminate the disease.
Pancreatic cancer occurs when cells in the pancreas—a gland located behind the stomach that helps regulate blood sugar and aids digestion—begin to grow uncontrollably, forming tumors, according to the Cleveland Clinic
Advertisement “There are certain diseases where getting access to promising drugs may mean the difference between life and death, and pancreatic cancer is an example of this,” said Dr. Christopher Lieu, a professor of medical oncology at the University of Colorado Anschutz.
“There are not enough treatment options, and our patients don’t have the luxury of waiting years for any regulatory agency to review data,” he explained in an interview with the school’s Department of Medicine.
“The idea that the FDA has a pathway for accelerated review is important and exciting, but it’s a new program, so I think there’s still a lot we’ll have to learn from it,” Lieu noted further.