The Food and Drug Administration approved a new medicine Wednesday to treat the most common form of pancreatic cancer.

Revolution Medicines’ Rasonque is a daily tablet that reduced the risk of death by 60% compared with chemotherapy in a late-stage clinical trial.

“Today’s approval provides a critical new option for patients facing an extraordinarily difficult and historically hard-to-treat cancer,” acting FDA Commissioner Kyle Diamantas said in a statement. “It is our fundamental duty to deliver more cures and meaningful treatments to patients as quickly as possible.”

The drug approval is for adults who are being treated for an advanced and aggressive stage of the cancer known as metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma, in which the disease spreads from the pancreas to distant organs or tissues, according to the National Cancer Institute.

About 50% of all pancreatic cancers become metastatic, according to the National Institutes of Health. The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network says chances of survival are “historically low,” with a median overall survival of six months or less.

The FDA said a randomized clinical trial involving 500 adults with previously treated metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma who took Rasonque improved the median overall survival to 13.2 months.

Pancreatic cancer makes up 3% of all cancers in the U.S. and 8% of cancer deaths, according to the American Cancer Society, which estimates 67,530 people will be diagnosed with the disease this year.

The Mayo Clinic says pancreatic cancer is not usually discovered in its early stages because it doesn’t cause symptoms until it has spread to other organs.

Based in Redwood City, California, Revolution Medicines is a late-stage clinical oncology company that works to discover and develop medicines for individuals with “RAS-addicted cancers,” whose tumors grow because of mutations to RAS proteins in some of their body’s cell membranes.

Rasonque is the brand name for the drug daraxonrasib, which works to inhibit RAS in adults with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma who have received other treatments or who haven’t been able to receive combination drug treatments such as chemotherapy.

Side effects, according to the FDA, include rash, diarrhea, inflammation of the mouth’s mucus membranes, nausea, fatigue, vomiting, abdominal pain, edema, decreased appetite and hemorrhage.

The FDA’s approval of Rasonque was granted through its “breakthrough therapy” and “orphan drug” designations — two programs the agency said are designed to speed the creation and review of medicines for serious and rare conditions.

In a statement, Revolution Medicines said Rasonque is now available for U.S. physicians to prescribe. The company is also engaging with global regulatory bodies to expand Rasonque’s reach, it said.

“Today’s landmark approval is the most significant advance we have seen in the fight against pancreatic cancer, a devastating disease,” Dr. Anna Berkenblit, chief scientific and medical officer for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, said in a statement. “I believe this drug will transform how pancreatic cancer is treated, giving people the opportunity for more time with loved ones, the possibility of a better quality of life and optimism that continued research may lead to even greater advances.”