Crizotinib in ALK-Positive Lung Cancer

Alice T. Shaw, MD, PhD, an attending physician in the Center for Thoracic Cancers at Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses using crizotinib to treat patients with ALK-positive lung cancer.

Clinical Pearls:

• Now that crizotinib is an FDA-approved agent, it is viewed as standard of care treatment for patients with ALK-positive lung cancer
• A study showed that crizotinib is superior to chemotherapy in patients with ALK-positive lung cancer in the second-line setting
• NCCN recommends testing patients with non-squamous lung cancer forEGFRandALKmutations
• The results of a trial that compares crizotinib to frontline chemotherapy should be ready sometime next year