CUHK Passions and Pursuits

31 c c Comparison of survival rates with treatment of crizotinib and with chemotherapy in a study published by Professor Mok and others (Source: N Engl J Med 2014; 371:2167–2177) ‘indolent’ gene causing little or no harm suddenly becomes a fusion protein that makes the ALK active. Treatment with crizotinib showed substantially better results than chemotherapy in terms of extending the patients’ lives (see the graphs above). His results show that all patients with advanced-stage lung cancer should be tested for the EGFR mutation and ALK rearrangement. They can then receive the appropriate drug. Thanks to this work, such personalized medicine is now a universal standard, allowing for individualized plans of treatment based on each person’s genetic makeup. ‘The whole objective is to convert a fatal lung cancer into a chronic illness,’ Professor Mok said. ‘We are not curing the patients with advanced-stage lung cancer. But people can take one pill a day, and they live like a normal person for a substantial portion of time.’