How long ALcensa in ALC + kung cancer – pro
Alectinib (brand name Alecensa) is a targeted cancer therapy used to treat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that is positive for an abnormal anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene. In the Alex trial the median duration of treatment for patients receiving alectinib was 28.1 months, and policies may only cover it for 24 monthss, but see Dziadziuszko and Mok et a showing that prolonged treatment longer or indfitely is effective.
Dziadziuszko R, Peters S, Ruf T, Cardona A, Guerini E, Kurtsikidze N, Smoljanovic V, Planchard D. Clinical experience and management of adverse events in patients with advanced ALK-positive non-small-cell lung cancer receiving alectinib. ESMO Open. 2022 Dec;7(6):100612. doi: 10.1016/j.esmoop.2022.100612. Epub 2022 Nov 11. PMID: 36375271; PMCID: PMC9663323.
Mok, T. et al. Updated overall survival and final progression-free survival data for patients with treatment-naive advanced ALK-positive non-small-cell lung cancer in the ALEX study. Annals of Oncology, Volume 31, Issue 8, 1056 – 1064