The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved a new treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer, which is the first to attack a genetic cause of the aggressive, highly lethal disease. 

The drug, called daraxonrasib, will be sold under the brand name Rasonque, was developed by biotech company Revolution Medicines, the New York Times reported. 

The drug, which is taken as two pills per day, is not a cure, but it is the first treatment to substantially extend the lives of patients with pancreatic cancer. In a key clinical trial, patients receiving the drug achieved a median overall survival of 13.2 months, compared to 6.7 months for patients offered standard chemotherapy. 

Some of the patients taking the drug through clinical trials lived for years. 

While the company didn't announce how much it plans to charge for the drug, Wall Street analysts have said they expect the drug to cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Insurance is expected to cover most of that cost, with varying out-of-pocket costs for patients.