Lung cancer in non-smokers: new drug shows ‘extraordinary’ results

A new treatment called lorlatinib has shown “extraordinary results” on people suffering from a particularly virulent type of lung cancer, according to a new search presented to American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

The study involved 296 people with advanced non-small cell lung cancer caused by a mutation in the ALK gene, an aggressive form of the disease.

A quarter of the patients had already seen their cancer spread to the brain. Half of them received lorlatinib while the others took crizotinib, a treatment used against lung cancer for many years. Throughout the experiment, the patients underwent regular brain scans to assess the progress of their pathology.

Lung cancer: how does lorlatinib work?

Five years after the start of the research, 60% of patients in the lorlatinib group found that their disease had not progressed at all, compared to only 8% of patients who received crizotinib.

Developed by Pfizer, lorlatinib binds to the ALK protein on the surface of cells, blocking tumor growth and stopping cancer in its tracks.

“This is the longest progression-free survival ever reported in ALK+ non-small cell lung cancer,” says Benjamin Solomon, doctor and director of the study. “It is important to note that approximately one-quarter of patients with ALK+ lung cancer have brain metastases at diagnosis and that progressive central nervous system involvement remains a major concern for these patients,” he adds.

“We have never seen such results in oncology and even less in the case of non-small cell lung cancer. This is a big step forward in the treatment of lung cancer,” adds Dr. David Spigel, ASCO’s scientific director.

Professor Charles Swanton, Cancer Research UK’s Chief Clinician, also said: “This is aThis type of research is essential to finding new ways to treat lung cancer and enabling more people to survive this disease for longer.”

Some figures on ALK+ non-small cell lung cancer

Non-small cell lung cancer accounts for more than 80% of lung cancers, with ALK-positive tumors responsible for approximately 5% of non-small cell lung cancer cases.

ALK+ non-small cell lung cancer usually affects non-smokers and relatively young people.

25 to 40% of people with ALK+ non-small cell lung cancer develop brain metastases within the first two years of the disease.