The treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), a rare tumor type with an estimated incidence of 3,300 to 6,000 new cases per year in the United States, has seen exciting advances this year, first with the FDA's approval of avapritinib for metastatic GIST with platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFRA) exon 18 mutations, and more recently with last month's approval of ripretinib for the later-line treatment of metastatic GIST. Margaret von Mehren, MD, principal investigator o...

Ripretinib (QinlockTM, Diciphera Pharmaceuticals, LLC) represents a new option for patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) previously treated with at least three kinase inhibitors, including imatinib. In this interview with i3 Health, Margaret von Mehren, MD, lead investigator of the INVICTUS study, on which ripretinib's recent FDA approval was based, discusses how this treatment compares with other options for advanced GIST in terms of efficacy and adverse events. What are ...

The FDA has approved ripretinib (QinlockTM, Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, LLC) for adults with metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) previously treated with at least three kinase inhibitors, including imatinib. Gastrointestinal stromal tumor is a rare tumor type with a yearly incidence of around 4,000 to 6,000 in the United States. "Despite the progress that has been made over the past 20 years in developing treatments for GIST, including four FDA-approved targeted therapies––imatinib in...

Fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) 2 gene alterations can occur in the pathogenesis of cholangiocarcinoma. Pemigatinib (PemazyreTM, Incyte Corporation), a newly FDA approved oral inhibitor of FGFR2, has shown efficacy in patients with previously treated, locally advanced, or metastatic cholangiocarcinoma with and without FGFR2 gene alterations. Approval was granted based a study led by Ghassan Abou-Alfa, MD, MBA from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. In an interview with i3 Health, D...

Often, fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) 2 gene alterations occur in the pathogenesis of cholangiocarcinoma. The FDA recently approved an oral inhibitor of FGFR2, pemigatinib (PemazyreTM, Incyte Corporation), which has shown efficacy in patients with previously treated, locally advanced, or metastatic cholangiocarcinoma with and without FGFR2 gene alterations. FoundationOne®CDx was also approved as a companion diagnostic test for this indication.  FDA approval was based on a cli...