Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-03-26

The National Institute of Health is working on clinical trials for a new drug to treat lung

National Institute of Health

cancer. About 85% of those diagnosed with lung cancer have Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC), and of these, 60% have EGFR gene mutation. EGFR is a protein on the surface of cells that helps them grow and divide. As some lung cancer cells have excessive EGFR, they grow at an uncontrollable rate.

There are many drugs that can treat EGFR but there is nothing that effectively treats those with EGFR exon20 insertions. Taiwan’s National Institute of Health has been researching and developing a new drug that can do so. This offers hope to the over 10,000 new lung cancer patients in Taiwan every year.

Researcher Hsu Chu-an says that DBPR112 is effective in suppressing EGFR and HER2’s exon20 insertions.  Hsu said there are some mutations that no drug has been able to treat. But that’s what makes DBPR112 special. It is geared towards patients with exon20 insertions, which accounts for about 5% of lung cancer patients. There are currently no other drugs that can be used so we are focusing on this drug and will go forward with trials.    [FULL  STORY]