First success of selumetinib, a targeted therapy in most common NSCLC

A new study by an international team of investigators led by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists is the first to demonstrate that chemotherapy and a new, targeted therapy- selumetinib - work better in combination than chemotherapy alone in treating patients with the most common genetic subtype of lung cancer.

Selumetinib is a small-molecule MEK inhibitor developed by USA-based Array BioPharma (Nasdaq: ARRY), and licensed to Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN), which sponsored the study.

Published on-line in The Lancet Oncology, the combination of chemotherapy and selumetinib was more effective than chemotherapy alone in a clinical trial involving patients with a form of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that carries a mutation in the gene KRAS - a variety that represents about 20% of all NSCLC cases. Previously, no targeted agent, either alone or in combination with another drug, had proven beneficial in a trial involving patients with this type of NSCLC.