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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Oncol.
Sec. Thoracic Oncology
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1470387
This article is part of the Research Topic Genetic and Immunological Insights in Solid Tumors: Comprehensive Approaches to Treatment View all 3 articles

Characteristics, Treatment Patterns, and Biomarker Testing of Patients with Advanced RET Fusion-Positive Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer in a Real-World Multi-Country Observational Study: A Brief Report

Provisionally accepted
Urpo Kiiskinen Urpo Kiiskinen 1*Grace Segall Grace Segall 1Hollie Bailey Hollie Bailey 2Cameron Forshaw Cameron Forshaw 2Tarun Puri Tarun Puri 1
  • 1 Eli Lilly (United States), Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
  • 2 Adelphi Communications, Bollington, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Approximately 1-2% of non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) are positive for rearranged during transfection (RET) gene fusions. The aim of this real-world multi-national study was to describe clinical characteristics, biomarker testing, and treatment patterns of patients with RET fusion-positive NSCLC.Methods: This observational study was conducted in 2020 in nine countries using electronic patient record forms, following Adelphi Disease Specific Programme (DSP™) methodology. Patients with advanced NSCLC (aNSCLC) were included in the overall cohort. A smaller RET fusion-positive cohort comprised patients from the overall aNSCLC cohort who had RET fusion-positive disease and no other co-alterations, plus an oversample of patients with RET fusion-positive disease and no other co-alterations.Results: Patient characteristics were generally similar between the overall aNSCLC cohort (n=2947) and the RET fusion-positive cohort (n=576), aside from higher proportions of White/Caucasian patients, never smokers, and adenocarcinoma among the RET fusionpositive cohort. For the overall aNSCLC cohort, 899 (31%) were tested for RET fusions; 84% of RET test results were available prior to initiation of aNSCLC treatment. Comparisons between the two cohorts showed similar proportions of patients treated with chemotherapy (± immunotherapy), but less use of immunotherapy only or targeted therapy in the RET fusionpositive cohort.Conclusions: Results of this real-world study provide insights into clinical characteristics, biomarker testing, and treatment patterns of patients with RET fusion-positive aNSCLC and highlight the need for awareness and education to increase RET testing with the intent to treat with selective RET inhibitors when appropriate to optimize outcomes for patients.

    Keywords: Clinical Characteristics, Treatment patterns, biomarker testing, RET fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer, Real-world data

    Received: 25 Jul 2024; Accepted: 16 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Kiiskinen, Segall, Bailey, Forshaw and Puri. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Urpo Kiiskinen, Eli Lilly (United States), Indianapolis, 46285, Indiana, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.