Abstract B232: Activity of a potent and selective phase I ALK inhibitor LDK378 in naive and crizotinib-resistant preclinical tumor models.

A c-MET/ALK kinase inhibitor crizotinib has demonstrated significant activity in lung cancer patients with EML4-ALK in clinical studies. However relapse (or acquired resistance) has also been reported. We have developed crizotinib resistant tumor models and used the models to evaluate the ALK inhibitor LDK378. LDK378 is a potent and selective ALK inhibitor that does not cross react with c-MET. In a mouse xenograft tumor model derived from the EML4-ALK+ lung cancer cell line NCI-H2228, LDK378 caused complete tumor regression when dosed orally at 25 mg/kg/day. After tumor bearing animals had been treated with LDK378 at 50 mg/kg/day for 14 days, remission was maintained for more than 4 months. In several NCI-H2228 tumor models that were induced to become resistant to crizotinib, LDK378 demonstrated efficacy at 50 mg/kg/day. Based on 4-wk GLP toxicology studies the drug exposure associated with this dose is predicted to be below the exposure at the MTD in humans. ALK resistance mutations reported in crizotinib relapsed patients were also found in the crizotinib resistant NCI-H2228 tumor models. The results from these preclinical studies suggest that LDK378 may be active in crizotinib-relapsed patients. A phase I clinical study of LDK378 has recently begun in both crizotinib-relapsed and crizotinib-naive patients. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2011 Nov 12-16; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2011;10(11 Suppl):Abstract nr B232.