The Case for Personalized Medicine
A patient has late-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). She has gone through a number of treatments, but none were able to arrest the cancer’s spread. The mother of four has progressive disease and precious little time to waste on treatments that do not work. Her physician read reports of a newly approved drug called Xalkori® (crizotinib) that might offer hope. However, only about five percent of NSCLC patients whose tumors have the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene rearrangement can potentially benefit. A newly approved diagnostic test determines that the patient has the gene rearrangement and that the drug is a treatment option for her. After starting to take Xalkori®, the tumors begin to respond.