Following last fall’s debut of Vitrakvi (larotrectinib)—the first medication developed to treat cancer with a specific genetic mutation anywhere in the body—the Food and Drug Administration is expected to make a decision about approval of the next site-agnostic treatment in August.

Like Vitrakvi, entrectinib works against all types of cancer with rare mutations known as TRK fusions, but it is also active against ROS1 fusions, which play a role in lung cancer.

At the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting in April, Robert Doebele, MD, PhD, of the University of Colorado at Aurora, presented results from a combined analysis of 10 non-small-cell lung cancer patients with TRK fusions in three clinical trials.

The overall response rate was 70%, including one complete response. Four of the six people with cancer that had spread to the brain saw improvement there. The median duration of response and the overall survival rate cannot yet be determined because a majority of participants are still alive and responding.