The DDR is in

The clinical success of Pfizer Inc.'s crizotinib anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor illustrates that attacking oncogenic drivers can substantially improve outcomes in small groups of non-small cell lung cancerpatients. Now, an international team has identified a similar target in squamous cell lung cancer-mutations in the tyrosine kinase DDR2 that drive oncogenesis in 3%-4% of cases.¹

The team plans to start a Phase II trial this year of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s Sprycel dasatinib, a marketed kinase inhibitor that blocks discoidin domain receptor tyrosine kinase 2(DDR2). Sprycel is approved to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML)...