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Lilly drug shrinks tumor size in patients with rare type of lung cancer

Eli Lilly and Co. said its oral medicine selpercatinib helped reduce tumor size in lung cancer patients with a rare gene abnormality.

The Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical giant was studying the medicine in a clinical trial called Libretto-001, which enrolled patients with RET-altered non-small cell lung cancer. Of the first 105 patients who received the medicine, 68% saw a reduction in their tumor.

NSCLC is the most common type of lung cancer, affecting more than 2 million people a year. RET-altered lung cancer is rare and mostly affects patients with no or minimal exposure to tobacco.

As of June 17, the cut-off date for the data readout, the median duration of response — a measure of how long a patient's tumor responds to treatment — was 20.3 months. Median progression-free survival, which measures how long a treatment helps prevent a cancer from growing, was 18.4 months.

Selpercatinib, also known as LOXO-292, is being studied in a total of 531 patients who did not get better after receiving treatments in the past. Eli Lilly got access to the drug after it acquired Loxo Oncology Inc. for $8 billion in January. The medicine holds the breakthrough-therapy designation in the U.S. to treat the condition.