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In a major triumph for personalized medicine, the FDA approved thedrug crizotinib for use with the lung cancer type known as ALK-positive. "I know the names and I can see the faces of every ALK-positivepatient I have treated with crizotinib. Most of them would not bealive today if not for this drug," says Ross Camidge, MD, PhD,investigator at the University of Colorado Cancer Center anddirector of the Thoracic Oncology Program at University of ColoradoHospital, who has been involved with the drug since its phase Iclinical trials in 2008. Approximately 4% of the 220,000 Americans diagnosed with lungcancer each year have the ALK fusion gene, and 45,000 newlydiagnosed lung cancer patients are ALK positive worldwide. The drugcrizotinib targets this ALK fusion gene - which is expressed onlyin cancer cells and not their healthy neighbors - starving cancer cells ofthe energy they need to live and grow. "By truly understanding the underlying genetic drivers of lungcancer, such as ALK, we can select patients who are more likely torespond to treatment. Crizotinib provides a model for how toapproach future drug development and cancer care," says Paul Bunn,MD, investigator at the University of Colorado Cancer Center andprofessor of medicine and the James Dudley chair in cancer researchat the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "Crizotinib, thefirst new drug approved for lung cancer by the FDA in more than sixyears, represents a paradigm shift in lung cancer treatment, wherewe're moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach tobiomarker-based treatment decisions." The approval of this drug is also a major achievement for theUniversity of Colorado Cancer Center, which has been involved inall phases of the drug's development and use, including creatingthe clinical test for the genetic mutation that definesALK-positive lung cancers and enrolling the first patients in thedrug's clinical trials. With the approval of crizotinib, instead of firing blindly into thenight, the first step in cancer treatment is now knowing yourenemy. The second step is treatment targeted specifically at thisenemy's weaknesses. Today is the first day of FDA-approved, personalized treatment forlung cancer. Additional References Citations. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China T8 LED Tube , China SMD LED Strip Light for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits LED Panel Light.
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