Noted

The FDA approved the RET inhibitor selpercatinib (Retevmo; LOXO-292; Lilly) to treat metastatic RET fusion–positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), advanced or metastatic RET-mutant medullary thyroid cancer (MTC), and advanced or metastatic RET-fusion positive thyroid cancer. In the LIBRETTO-001 trial, the drug produced ORRs in previously treated and treatment-naïve patients ranging from 64% to 85% for NSCLC; 69% to 73% for advanced or metastatic MTC; and 79% to 100% for RET fusion-positive thyroid cancer in patients whose tumors had stopped responding to radioactive iodine therapy.

The agency also approved the MET inhibitor capmatinib (Tabrecta; Novartis) in patients with metastatic NSCLC—including those with brain metastases—who have MET exon 14 skipping mutations. In the phase II GEOMETRY mono-1 trial, which formed the basis of the approval, newly diagnosed patients had an objective response rate of 67.9% and previously treated patients had a response rate of 40.6%.

At the American Association for Cancer Research Virtual Annual Meeting I, Haneen Shalabi, DO, of the NIH, reported that a chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy targeting CD19 and CD22 led to complete responses in five of 12 evaluable patients with relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia or non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Gilead paid Arcus Biosciences $375 million in a deal that could be worth up to $1.6 billion more in milestone payments, forming a 10-year partnership between the companies. Arcus is developing immune checkpoint inhibitors that target PD-1 and TIGIT: Its leading clinical candidates are the anti-TIGIT agent AB154, the A2aR/A2bR antagonist AB928, and the PD-1 inhibitor zimberelimab (AB122).

The Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor ibrutinib (Imbruvica; Janssen) may alleviate respiratory symptoms in patients with COVID-19 infections (Blood 2020;135:1912–5). Five patients taking a standard dose of ibrutinib for Waldenström macroglobulinemia who developed COVID-19 experienced no shortness of breath and were not hospitalized; a sixth patient on a lower dose of ibrutinib was placed on a ventilator but improved when the dose was increased. A clinical trial is testing ibrutinib in patients with COVID-19.

For more news on cancer research, visit Cancer Discovery online at http://cancerdiscovery.aacrjournals.org/CDNews.