“May all be happy, may all be healed, may all be at peace and may no one ever suffer."
Crizotinib is a kinase inhibitor indicated for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that is anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive or ROS 1 positive. Crizotinib is the first FDA-approved biomarker-driven therapy for both ALK positive and ROS1-positive metastatic NSCLC. It is the only FDA approved drug for ROS 1 positive NSCLC.
Pharmacology
Crizotinib is an inhibitor of receptor tyrosine kinases including ALK, Hepatocyte Growth Factor Receptor (HGFR, c-Met), ROS1 (c-ros), and Recepteur d'Origine Nantais (RON). Translocations can affect the ALK gene resulting in the expression of oncogenic fusion proteins. The formation of ALK fusion proteins results in activation and dysregulation of the gene’s expression and signaling which can contribute to increased cell proliferation and survival in tumors expressing these proteins. Crizotinib demonstrated concentration-dependent inhibition of ALK, ROS1, and c-Met phosphorylation in cell-based assays using tumor cell lines and demonstrated antitumor activity in mice bearing tumor xenografts that expressed echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4 (EML4)- or nucleophosmin (NPM)-ALK fusion proteins or c-Met.