ARIAD presents clinical proof-of-concept for lung cancer drug

ARIAD Pharmaceuticals has published 'compelling' proof-of-concept data for its new tyrosine-kinase inhibitor AP26113.

ARIAD Pharmaceuticals has published the initial clinical results of its investigational tyrosine-kinase inhibitor AP26113, for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Ongoing Phase 1/2 trials indicate that the drug shows compelling anti-tumour activity at a range of dose levels in patients whose tumours are anaplastic lymphoma kinase positive (ALK+).

The research, presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology annual meeting in Austria, is based on the outcomes for 34 patients enrolled in six different cohorts based on dosages of 30, 60, 90, 120, 180 and 240mg - administered in the form of an oral medication once daily.

Currently, 19 remain involved in the study, with 16 of these spread across the three highest dose levels.

"The initial findings from this ongoing study show that AP26113 has impressive anti-tumor activity in ALK+ NSCLC patients, who are either naive or resistant to crizotinib," stated Dr Scott Gettinger, associate professor of medicine at Yale School of Medicine, who prevented the findings at ESMO.