ALK Positive Lung Cancer Treatment; ALK Inhibitors Are Effective For Advanced ALK-Positive NSCLC
Some lung cancers involve a gene mutations that affect how
quickly the cancer grows. The ALK (anaplastic lymphoma kinase) mutation is one
of those gene changes. ALK positive lung cancer treatment is used for people
suffering from lung cancer with ALK mutation. Among the many different
mutations, the ALK is one of the more treatable mutation as it often responds
dramatically to targeted therapy. It responds very well to a group of targeted
drugs called ALK inhibitors. Chemotherapy and other drugs also work against ALK
positive lung cancer.
ALK positive lung cancer occurs mainly in patients with non-small-cell
lung cancer (NSCLC). Around 5% of people with NSCLC have the ALK-positive kind.
Worldwide, ALK-positive lung cancer causes around 72,000 new cases of lung
cancer and 64,000 deaths each year. Stage IV is the most advanced stage, which
means the disease has spread to distant parts of the body, such as the brain
and bones. Lung cancer is the third most common cancer in the United States.
According to the American Cancer Society, around 84% of all
lung cancers are NSCLC. ALK inhibitors widely used for ALK
positive lung cancer treatment. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(USFDA) has also approved some ALK inhibitors for the treatment of ALK positive
lung cancer. In 2020, FDA approved brigatinib for adult patients with
ALK-positive NSCLC. Moreover, FDA approved Lorbrena (lorlatinib) as a first-line
treatment for patients with ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer.
When ALK fuses or joins with another gene and causes lung
cancer, a patient is said to be ALK-positive. Stage IV patients are often
prescribed a pill called ALK-inhibitor or a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). Lorlatinib
(Lorbrena), Brigatinib (Alunbrig), Alectinib (Alecensa), Ceritinib (Zykadia), Crizotinib
(Xalkori), and ALK-Inhibitors are some of the ALK-inhibitors commonly used for ALK
positive lung cancer treatment. In the last few years, a flurry of new and more
potent ALK inhibitors has emerged for the treatment of ALK-positive NSCLC.
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