Home » Lung cancer, new confirmations for “agnostic” therapy

Lung cancer, new confirmations for “agnostic” therapy

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Agnostic therapy continues to yield positive results in patients with advanced lung cancer that has a rare mutation: the fusion of the NTRK gene. From the European Lung Cancer Virtual Congress (ELCC) 2021 comes the news that the 14 patients treated with larotrectinib, a potent inhibitor of TRK proteins, have responded well to therapy: the overall response is estimated at 71% (that in patients with metastases to central nervous system is 57%) and lasts over time (88% at 12 months). Survival reached 12 months for 91% of patients and 69% maintained progression-free survival of the disease. The treatment duration ranged from about 2 months to more than 39.

Gastrointestinal tumors, new efficacy data for targeted therapy


What the new data tell us

“In this study, now updated with more patients than previously reported and with longer follow-up, larotrectinib continues to be well tolerated, confirming a high response rate,” he comments. Silvia Novello, Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Turin and president of WALCE Onlus: “The answers are lasting and a survival advantage is described for these patients with advanced lung cancer with the NTRK fusion gene, taking into account that they were often already been subjected to different lines of therapy (from 0 to 5, ed.). These data underline once again the absolute necessity of carrying out genomic tests to identify those patients with gene alterations, so that they can receive a timely specific treatment directed against the tumor growth “driver” gene, because only in this way can we significantly improve its prognosis “.

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Effective drug on 29 types of tumors, it affects the alteration of genes



The “wild card” therapy

Larotrectinib is a drug developed to exclusively treat tumors that carry an NTRK fusion gene: the NTRK gene – Neurotrophic Tyrosine Receptor Kinase – fuses with another unrelated gene, producing an altered TRK protein that promotes uncontrolled cell growth and the survival of the altered cells. It can be prescribed regardless of the location of the tumor and for this reason it is also defined as an “agnostic” drug; in the European Union it is approved for locally advanced, metastatic diseases or when surgical resection could result in severe morbidity and which do not have satisfactory treatment options. It has already demonstrated high response rates and lasting responses over a three-year period in both adults and children with TRK fusion tumors, including high disease control rates in central nervous system (CNS) localized tumors.

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