First and only therapeutic drug for ALK-positive lung cancer approved

August 31, 2011 in Cancer

In a major triumph for personalized medicine, the FDA approved the drug crizotinib for use with the lung cancer type known as ALK-positive.

"I know the names and I can see the faces of every ALK-positive patient I have treated with crizotinib. Most of them would not be alive today if not for this drug," says Ross Camidge, investigator at the University of Colorado Cancer Center and at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, who has been involved with the drug since its first trials in 2008.

Approximately 4% of the 220,000 Americans diagnosed with lung cancer each year have the ALK , and 45,000 newly diagnosed are ALK positive worldwide. The drug crizotinib targets this ALK fusion gene – which is expressed only in cancer cells and not their healthy neighbors – starving cancer cells of the energy they need to live and grow.

"By truly understanding the underlying genetic drivers of lung cancer, such as ALK, we can select patients who are more likely to respond to treatment. Crizotinib provides a model for how to approach future drug development and cancer care," says Paul Bunn, investigator at the University of Colorado Cancer Center and professor of medicine and the James Dudley chair in cancer research at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "Crizotinib, the first new drug approved for lung cancer by the in more than six years, represents a paradigm shift in lung cancer treatment, where we're moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach to biomarker-based treatment decisions."

The approval of this drug is also a major achievement for the University of Colorado Cancer Center, which has been involved in all phases of the drug's development and use, including creating the clinical test for ALK-positive lung cancers and enrolling the first patients in the phase I study of the drug, in 2008.

With the approval of crizotinib, today is the first day of FDA-approved, personalized treatment for .

Provided by University of Colorado Denver

not rated yet  

Rank not rated yet
Relevant PhysicsForums posts
  • A question about drug tolerance
    createdMay 23, 2012
  • Poor nutrition leading to overeating?
    createdMay 23, 2012
  • Math and dyslexia?
    createdMay 21, 2012
  • portable metabolism meter?
    createdMay 21, 2012
  • Rare medical conditions on 20/20 tonight
    createdMay 18, 2012
  • "Good" Cholesterol in Doubt
    createdMay 17, 2012
  • More from Physics Forums - Medical Sciences

More news stories

Skp2 activates cancer-promoting, glucose-processing Akt

HER2 and its epidermal growth factor receptor cousins mobilize a specialized protein to activate a major player in cancer development and sugar metabolism, scientists report in the May 25 issue of Cell.

Cancer created 11 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Pancreatectomy OK without downstaging from therapy

(HealthDay) -- Pancreatectomy improves median survival in pancreatic cancer patients even when presurgical neoadjuvant therapy does not lead to radiographic downstaging of tumors, according to a study published ...

Cancer created 12 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Common therapies for basal cell carcinoma offer similar survival

(HealthDay) -- For patients with superficial basal cell carcinoma (sBCC), treatment with imiquimod or photodynamic therapy (PDT) results in similar long-term tumor-free survival, according to a review published ...

Cancer created 12 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Cancer may require simpler genetic mutations than previously thought

Chromosomal deletions in DNA often involve just one of two gene copies inherited from either parent. But scientists haven't known how a deletion in one gene from one parent, called a "hemizygous" deletion, can contribute ...

Cancer created 14 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New prostate cancer screening guidelines face a tough sell, study suggests

(Medical Xpress) -- Recent recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) advising elimination of routine prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for prostate cancer in healthy men are likely to encounter ...

Cancer created 17 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 1


Of mice and mental models: Neuroscientific implications of risk-optimized behavior in the mouse

(Medical Xpress) -- Regardless of an organism’s biological complexity, every encephalized animal continuously makes under-informed behavioral choices that can have serious consequences. Despite its ubiquity, ...

Tongue analysis software uses ancient Chinese medicine to warn of disease

For 5,000 years, the Chinese have used a system of medicine based on the flow and balance of positive and negative energies in the body. In this system, the appearance of the tongue is one of the measures used to classify ...

Inherited DNA change explains overactive leukemia gene

A small inherited change in DNA is largely responsible for overactivating a gene linked to poor treatment response in people with acute leukemia.

Early physical therapist treatment associated with reduced risk of healthcare utilization and reduced overall healthcare

A new study published in Spine shows that early treatment by a physical therapist for low back pain (LBP), as compared to delayed treatment, was associated with reduced risk of subsequent healthcare utilization and lower ...

New device allows pacemaker patients to safely undergo MRIs

For many, it's a medical conundrum: The very pacemaker keeping their heart in rhythm prevents them from undergoing an MRI to diagnose other ailments, because interaction between the two devices could prove deadly.

First study to suggest that the immune system may protect against Alzheimer's changes in humans

Recent work in mice suggested that the immune system is involved in removing beta-amyloid, the main Alzheimer's-causing substance in the brain. Researchers have now shown for the first time that this may apply in humans.