‘There’s a Lot of Innovation’ in the KRAS-Mutant Lung Cancer Space

While the approvals of Lumakras (sotorasib) and Krazati (adagrasib) brought targeted agents to patients KRASG12C-mutant non-small cell lung cancer — a subtype that was traditionally difficult to treat — there are still unmet needs for this patient population, explained Jennifer King, chief scientific officer at the GO2 for Lung Cancer Foundation.

READ MORE: KRAS G12C Lung Cancer: New Therapies Treat the 'Undruggable'

The ongoing SPARK study (which is a collaborative effort among the GO2 for Lung Cancer Foundation, ALCMI and Dr. Mark Award and colleagues at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Foundation Medicine) is attempting to lay the groundwork to fill the unmet needs. The trial is using liquid biopsies, which looks at the blood of patients to determine if there is circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in the bloodstream, to gain a better understanding of the contributing factors behind why lung cancer stops responding to drugs such as Lumakras and Krazati.

Additionally, King mentioned that the “patient-centric” design of the trial allows the liquid biopsy results to be shared with the patient and their treatment team, so that they can potentially be used for future clinical decision making.

King mentioned that she is hopeful for the future of KRAS-mutant non-small cell lung cancer and said that more treatments will eventually be available for this patient population.

“We fully intend (and) expect to see second- and third-generation drugs like we have seen in this EGFR space, the ALK space, we expect that in the KRAS space too,” she said. “There's a lot of innovation, there's a lot of things happening.”

Transcription

There's still a lot of needs for this patient population. I think this study (SPARK) is really innovative in that it's looking at how these first-generation drugs in this space are performing and what resistance mechanisms are going to really make them not work as well. We fully intend (and) expect to see second- and third-generation drugs like we have seen in this EGFR space, the ALK space, we expect that in the KRAS space too. There's a lot of innovation, there's a lot of things happening. And so more therapies will continue to come down to our patients, and we really want to understand how to use them best.

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