Dr. Edward Garon, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, reviews impressive results from the GALAXY-1 trial of the heat shock protein inhibitor ganetespib combined with combined with second line docetaxel in advanced lung adenocarcinoma.

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Historically, lung cancer patients with a KRAS mutation, which is the molecular marker that is actually most common in patients with NSCLC (about 20-25%), have not had extremely appealing treatment options.  In fact, the available data has largely led to the conclusion that both chemotherapy and EGFR inhibitor therapy tends to be, if anything, somewhat less effective for people with a KRAS mutation.  Despite some reason for hope in early research with a few novel therapies, there really hasn't been a good alternative that is specifically effective for KRAS mutation-positive patien

Several weeks ago, we were fortunate enough to be joined by not one but two international stars in lung cancer research that is being translated directly from lab bench to bedside of the patient. I don't think there's a more clear and inspiring example of good science leading to effective therapy, albeit for a limited patient population, than the story of the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor crizotinib (recently FDA approved and commercially launched as XALKORI) for patients with an EML4-ALK rearrangement (approximately 4% of the broader NSCLC population). Drs.