Proactive management strategies for potential gastrointestinal adverse reactions with ceritinib in patients with advanced ALK-positive non-small-cell lung cancer

Eric S Schaefer,1 Christina Baik2 1Section of Medical Oncology, Highlands Oncology Group, Fayetteville, AR, 2Department of Medicine, Medical Oncology Division, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA Abstract: Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene fusions occur in 3%–7% of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cases. Ceritinib, a once-daily, oral ALK inhibitor, has activity against crizotinib-resistant and crizotinib-naïve NSCLC, including brain metastases. Ceritinib (Zykadia™) was granted accelerated approval by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2014 for treating crizotinib-resistant ALK-positive NSCLC. Adverse events (AEs), particularly gastrointestinal (GI) AEs, are commonly experienced at the recommended dose of 750 mg/d and ~38% of patients require dose interruption or reduction for GI AEs. This case study details our experience with the use of proactive GI AE management regimens in patients treated with ceritinib (750 mg/d) across two study sites. Proactive Regimens A and B were implemented in patients with metastatic ALK-positive NSCLC treated with ceritinib to manage drug-related GI AEs. Regimen A comprised ondansetron and diphenoxylate/atropine or loperamide, taken 30 minutes prior to ceritinib dose. Regimen B included dicyclomine (taken with the first ceritinib dose), ondansetron (taken 30 minutes prior to ceritinib dose for the first seven doses), and loperamide (taken as needed with the onset of diarrhea). The proactive me...
Source: Cancer Management and Research - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Cancer Management and Research Source Type: research