Dr. Drilon on NTRK Rearrangement in Lung Cancer

Alexander Drilon, MD, medical oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses NTRK rearrangement in patients with lung cancer.

NTRK rearrangements are recurrent gene fusions that are found in a rare minority of patients with lung cancer, explains Drilon. However, looking across other solid tumors, they can be found in head and neck cancer, sarcomas, and breast cancer.

According to Drilon, the interesting thing about TRK fusions, is that they are very actionable in terms of targeted therapy. There are 2 different targeted agents, entrectinib and LOXO-101, that are in phase II testing for any patients who have solid tumors with NTRK rearrangement. Both drugs have achieved dramatic responses, regardless of histology in earlier phase I studies.