Targeted therapies for ALK fusion-positive lung cancer are all here

  In China, lung cancer ranks first in terms of morbidity and mortality, and the disease burden is increasing, among which the average age of ALK-positive advanced NSCLC patients is 52 years old, which is in the golden age of affluence. Data show that 20-40% of ALK-positive advanced NSCLC patients have brain metastasis at the initial diagnosis, and the incidence increases with time, and even after ALK inhibitor treatment Brain progression occurs in 45-70% of patients, posing a serious challenge to patient survival.  Since 2011, new drug development in ALK has been ongoing, and as of today, China has approved all ALK-TKIs into the country: crizotinib, cretinib, aletinib, brugitinib, loratanib, and a new drug from a domestic pharmaceutical company, enzatinib.  ”Recent clinical study data published by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) showed that the progression-free survival (PFS) of the first-line treatment of ALK-positive NSCLC with the third-generation ALK inhibitor loratinib (Borena) has exceeded three years, demonstrating an unprecedented duration of progression-free survival of the disease.” Professor Yilong Wu, principal investigator of the Chinese registration study of loratinib and honorary director of the Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, noted, “Loratinib has excellent blood-brain barrier penetration ability, and its treatment in patients without brain metastases can effectively deter the occurrence of brain metastases. The objective intracranial remission rate for patients with brain metastases was as high as 83.3% after treatment. These data have received high attention from the industry and provide a theoretical basis for physicians to select first-line treatment options.”  ”Lolatinib was developed specifically to penetrate the blood-brain barrier and inhibit resistance mutations caused by other ALK inhibitors, providing an excellent solution for preventing and delaying disease progression.” Professor Lu Shun, principal investigator of the loratinib Chinese registration study and affiliate of Shanghai Jiao Tong University Chest Hospital, said, “The current conventional treatment for ALK-positive NSCLC is commonly associated with multi-locus resistance, leading to decreased drug efficacy and patients having to discontinue treatment. We have been looking forward to the launch of new drugs that break through the limits of drug resistance, and for patients who have been treated with ALK inhibitors that have developed resistance, we have found that loratinib shows potent anti-tumor activity and intracranial activity, which can further inhibit tumor growth and buy longer survival time for patients.”  In July 2020, loratinib was approved for import by the Hainan Provincial Drug Administration as an urgent clinical need, and patients began to receive treatment in Hainan, while loratinib was included in the “Lecheng Global Special Drug Insurance” and docked with Beijing, Shanxi, Hunan and other provinces and municipalities to reduce patients’ treatment burden through compensatory medical insurance and other forms In addition, it will improve the accessibility of the drug.  Recently, loratinib was also officially approved as an indication for the treatment of advanced ALK-positive lung cancer, marking the clinical use of another targeted drug, and China has become the country with the largest selection of ALK molecular targeted drugs.