Dr. Paz-Ares on Entrectinib in NTRK Fusion-Positive NSCLC

Luis G. Paz-Ares, MD, PhD, chief physician at the Hospital Universitario Doce De Octubre, discusses results from an integrated analysis of patients with NTRK fusion—positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) enrolled in the STARTRK-2 (NCT02568267), STARTRK-1 (NCT02097810), and ALKA-372-001 (EudraCT 2012-000148-88) trials, which evaluated the safety and efficacy of entrectinib in patients with solid tumors.

The trials enrolled a total of 54 patients with NTRK fusions in solid tumors across a variety of histologies, but the analysis conducted by Paz-Ares and his colleagues focused on the 10 patients with NSCLC. Results from the analysis were presented at the 2019 European Lung Cancer Congress.

In these patients, the response rate with entrectinib was 70%. In the 6 patients with NSCLC who also had brain metastases, 4 experienced an intracranial response. The safety profile for entrectinib in this patient population was also similar to that of the overall population.

These findings, says Paz-Ares, led the investigators to conclude that not only is entrectinib active in a variety of tumor types, it is particularly effective in NTRK fusion—positive NSCLC and in patients who also have central nervous system disease.

<<< 2019 European Lung Cancer Congress