Dr. Papadimitrakopoulou on Impactful Targeted Therapies in Lung Cancer

Vassiliki Papadimitrakopoulou, MD, professor, Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses impactful targeted therapies in lung cancer.

The most successful targeted therapies are being used in EGFR-mutated disease, Papadimitrakopoulou says. One of the most notable targeted therapies for the treatment of these patients is osimertinib (Tagrisso). Osimertinib is a more selective inhibitor that is better tolerated, and targets central nervous system disease effectively.

Excellent activity has been observed with targeted therapies in ALK gene fusions, BRAF mutations, and ROS1 fusions as well, Papadimitrakopoulou says. Recently, more selective inhibitors of RET fusions and mutations have also emerged.

Among these advances, there are still challenges. Papadimitrakopoulou says targeting KRAS mutations has been unsuccessful so far. This alteration will be the subject of clinical trials in an effort to find the mechanisms that make this tumor so invulnerable to current therapies.