title: Ceritinib for the treatment of late-stage (metastatic) non-small cell lung cancer.
abstract: Over the past decade, the non-small cell lung cancer therapeutics landscape has been dominated by the increasing focus on identification and validation of molecular targets, as well as the identification of the best candidate agents to address these targets. Among the notable successes have been the approval of erlotinib, gefitinib, and afatinib for the EGFR mutation, and more recently crizotinib for anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene rearrangement. Despite the excellent efficacy of crizotinib, several mechanisms of resistance, including secondary mutation in the ALK gene, eventually result in disease progression, and several second-generation ALK inhibitors, notably ceritinib, have demonstrated evidence of clinical activity in this setting. This review discusses the data associated with the recent accelerated approval of ceritinib for treatment of patients with ALK-positive, metastatic lung adenocarcinoma with disease progression on or who are intolerant to crizotinib.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Erminia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Massarelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. vpapadim@mdanderson.org.
authors.forename: Vassiliki
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Papadimitrakopoulou
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011743:Pyrimidines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013450:Sulfones / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D011743:Pyrimidines; D013450:Sulfones; C586847:ceritinib