Dr. Pietanza on Rova-T for Small Cell Lung Cancer

Catherine Pietanza, MD, assistant attending physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses novel targeted therapy rovalpituzumab tesirine (Rova-T), which showed activity in relapsed and refractory small cell lung cancer (SCLC) in a recent phase I study.

The study looked at patients with SCLC who were positive for delta-like 3 (DLL3). In these DLL3-expressing patients, there was an overall response rate (ORR) of about 45%. The results were particularly significant because these patents do not currently have many therapeutic options, explains Pietanza.

DLL3 is overexpressed at a variety of levels, and highly expressed in over 70% of patients, meaning it is possible that this targeted therapy will work for a large number of those with SCLC. Further trials are planned.

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