The Human Guinea Pig Project

Lorlatinib shrinks rare brain tumour in child after the standard of care fails.

January 13, 2021 Andrew Scarborough Season 1 Episode 12
The Human Guinea Pig Project
Lorlatinib shrinks rare brain tumour in child after the standard of care fails.
Show Notes

8-year-old Deliah Sitorius had been fighting a rare brain cancer for almost a year with chemotherapy . Unfortunately this was unsuccessful and she stopped treatment immediately. Deliah was given hope after her mother discovered the tumour has a rare mutation often seen in lung cancer. Since applying a more targeted, personalised approach using a drug called Lorlatinib the tumour has been shrinking.

Loratinib is a third generation ALK ROS1 tyosine kinase inhibitor, specifically designed to overcome known ALK resistance mutations. It is able to penetrate the blood brain barrier and more recently we have seen paediatric brain cancer patients who are responding very well to the drug.