Multikinase Inhibitors in RET-Rearranged NSCLC
Multikinase inhibitors appeared to have limited activity in patients with RET-rearranged non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to a retrospective study reported recently by Gautschi et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The investigators concluded that further study of the biology of RET-rearranged lung cancers and new targeted agents will be needed to improve outcomes for these patients.
The study involved data from the Global, Multicenter RET Registry (through April 2016) on 165 patients with RET-rearranged NSCLC from 29 centers across Europe, Asia, and the United States. Of these patients, 53 patients who were naive to tyrosine kinase inhibitors received 1 or more RET tyrosine kinase inhibitors in sequence. The most commonly used agents were cabozantinib (21 patients), vandetanib (11 patients), and sunitinib (10 patients). The investigators found that the rate of any complete or partial response to cabozantinib, vandetanib, and sunitinib was 37%, 18%, and 22%, respectively. In addition, further responses were observed with lenvantinib and nintedanib.
