Dr. Brahmer on Targeting Driver Mutations in NSCLC

Julie R. Brahmer, MD, co-director of the Upper Aerodigestive Department in the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, director of Thoracic Oncology, and professor of oncology, Johns Hopkins Medicine, discusses targeted treatments for patients with oncogene-driven non—small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Advances in this space have led to the development of multiple targeted agents for patients with driver mutations, says Brahmer.

Osimertinib (Tagrisso) was approved by the FDA in April 2018 for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic NSCLC whose tumors harbor EGFR exon 19 deletions or exon 21 L858R mutations.

In November 2017, alectinib (Alecensa) received FDA approval for the treatment of patients with ALK-positive metastatic NSCLC.

Other driver mutations including BRAF, RET, ROS1, and NTRK have targeted therapies available in NSCLC, says Brahmer.

Additionally, KRAS^G12C inhibitors are currently being investigated in clinical trials, concludes Brahmer.