Dr. Demetri on Larotrectinib in TRK-Fusion GI Cancers

George D. Demetri, MD, director, Center for Sarcoma and Bone Oncology, senior vice president, Experimental Therapeutics, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, discusses the use of larotrectinib in patients with TRK-fusion gastrointestinal (GI) cancers.

Physicians have merged and analyzed the data from 3 studies that examined the use of larotrectinib in patients with TRK-fusions. The results, presented by Dr Michael Nathanson on behalf of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and other participating centers at the 2018 World GI Meeting, focused on patients with GI cancers.

The data in GI cancers are very similar to the data across many types of cancers, says Demetri. Virtually all patients had meaningful responses. This includes patients with pancreas cancer, colorectal cancer, and sarcomas of the GI tract. Patients with sarcomas of the GI tract seemed to have the most durable responses, states Demetri.

The study gives oncologists a reason to be on the lookout for patients with TRK fusions, as larotrectinib is likely to be approved by the FDA in the near future.