What is your preferred first line therapy in metastatic ALK+ NSCLC?
The ALTA and ALEX trials showed better PFS with brigatinib v. crizotinib and alectinib v. crizotinib. How do you choose your first line therapy?
Answer from: Medical Oncologist at Academic Institution
For patients with known CNS metastases at baseline, lorlatinib may potentially offer better CNS disease control, albeit with more toxicity relative to brigatinib/alectinib. Brigatinib is more convenient in terms of dosing from the patient perspective (one tablet once daily versus up to four twice da...
Answer from: Medical Oncologist at Academic Institution
There are multiple therapeutic options for patients with ALK rearranged non-small cell lung cancer. We now have 3 phase 3 trials that have shown that next generation ALK directed therapy is superior to crizotinib for advanced adenocarcinoma patients harboring an ALK rearrangement. Alectinib, Brigati...
Answer from: Medical Oncologist at Academic Institution
There is no head to head data that suggest superiority of alectinib over brigatinib or vice versa, nor are those data likely to become available. Both have demonstrated significant (and similar) PFS gains over crizotinib and both are associated with significant CNS activity in terms of time to CNS p...
Answer from: Medical Oncologist at Academic Institution
There are several right answers here. Clearly, we favor TKI therapy over chemotherapy (and ALK+ NSCLC is not an immunotherapy-responsive tumor). Crizotinib was the first but CNS coverage is its Achilles heel. Ceritinib is approved but is the least well tolerated of the bunch. Sorting out alectinib, ...