Kevan Shokat has been named the 2026 Stephenson Global Prize Laureate, receiving $1 million for his pioneering contributions to pancreatic cancer research.  

His discoveries helped transform decades of scientific thinking about KRAS, one of cancer’s most important and historically difficult-to-target drivers, and usher in a new generation of RAS-targeted therapies.  

The Stephenson Global Prize is a $1 million award presented to visionary scientific leaders whose body of work has fundamentally changed the trajectory of pancreatic cancer research. 

This recognition follows the FDA approval of daraxonrasib (Rasonque), developed by Revolution Medicines, for adults with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma.  

The drug traces its scientific roots to Shokat’s laboratory. In 2013, Shokat discovered a previously hidden pocket on the surface of the mutated RAS protein, proving for the first time that a target long dismissed as “undruggable” could in fact be bound and disabled by a small molecule.  

This breakthrough motivated Revolution Medicines, a company Shokat co-founded, and its RAS(ON) platform, which was ultimately engineered into daraxonrasib. It is the first broad RAS-targeted medicine approved for metastatic pancreatic cancer and a major milestone in a scientific journey that once seemed impossible. 

In the pivotal clinical trial supporting its approval, the drug improved median overall survival to 13.2 months compared with 6.7 months with standard chemotherapy, providing a new treatment option for patients with one of the most difficult-to-treat cancers. 

“This is exactly why we created the Stephenson Global Prize,” said A Emmet Stephenson Jr, Co-Founder of the Stephenson Global Pancreatic Cancer Research Institute (SGPCRI). “Dr. Shokat took on a challenge many believed could not be solved and proved otherwise. To see his discovery help pave the way for new treatments that can extend lives is the kind of impact we want to accelerate.”