Dr. Passaro on Clinical Factors Linked With Improved Outcomes to ALK Inhibitors in NSCLC

Antonio Passaro, MD, PhD, of the Division of Thoracic Oncology, European Institute of Oncology, discusses a study that sought to determine the factors that have an impact on 5-year survival among patients treated for metastatic non—small cell lung cancer using ALK TKIs.

Passaro and his research team focused on the clinical characteristics and treatment features of patients who received ALK inhibitors during routine clinical treatment between 2013 and 2018. Approximately 21% of patients treated with these agents achieved 5-year survival; considering the pathology of NSCLC, and typical survival of just 1 year, these results were surprising, he explained.

Interestingly, patients who received palliative radiotherapy for bone pain had a more significant increase in survival than patients who did not, and the benefit was in favor of those with limited metastatic disease. Ninety percent of patients in this study had received crizotinib (Xalkori) in either the first- or second-line setting.

<<< 2019 European Lung Cancer Congress