The effectiveness of ALK receptor tyrosine kinase (ALK) inhibitors can be limited by the development of ALK resistance mutations. This exploratory analysis assessed the efficacy of alectinib in patients with NSCLC and ALK point mutations using pooled data from two single-arm phase II studies.

Studies NP28673 and NP28761 enrolled adults with locally advanced/metastatic ALK-positive NSCLC who had progressed on crizotinib. ALK mutation analysis was conducted on cell-free DNA from 187 patients post-crizotinib/pre-alectinib, and from 49 of these patients who subsequently progressed on alectinib.

Baseline characteristics were generally balanced across patient subgroups. At baseline, 34 distinct ALK mutations were identified in 48 of 187 patients (25.7%). Median investigator-assessed progression-free survival was longer in patients without ALK single-nucleotide variants (n = 138) versus those with (n = 48): 10.2 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 8.1–14.3) versus 5.6 months (95% CI: 4.5–10.9), respectively. Sixteen of 32 patients (50%) with ALK resistance mutations to crizotinib achieved an investigator-assessed response to alectinib (all partial responses); most of these ALK mutations were known to be sensitive to alectinib. Analysis of plasma samples obtained post-progression on alectinib revealed that 26 of 49 (53%) samples harbored 16 distinct ALK mutations, with known alectinib-resistance mutations, I1171 T/N/S, G1202R, and V1180L, observed in 15 of 49 (31%) tumors.

Alectinib appears clinically active against ALK rearrangements and mutations, as well as several ALK variants that can cause resistance to crizotinib. The use of cell-free DNA in plasma samples may be an alternative noninvasive method for monitoring resistance mutations during therapy.