Impact of tissue-agnostic approvals for patients with gastrointestinal malignancies

Abstract

Gastrointestinal (GI) malignancies encompass a broad range of tumors with limited treatment options, particularly for advanced disease. With the development and implementation of next-generation sequencing (NGS) in routine practice, molecular-targeting therapies have been increasingly incorporated into the treatment paradigm for various cancers. Several drugs have achieved tissue-agnostic regulatory approvals, which offer promising biomarker-driven therapy options for patients with advanced GI malignancies. In this review, we focus on the clinical evidence for recent drug approvals for neurotrophic tyrosine receptor kinase (NTRK) fusion, microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) phenotype, tumor mutation burden-high (TMB-H), BRAF V600E, and rearranged during transfection (RET), in the context of GI malignancies. We also highlight the future landscape of tissue-agnostic targets, such as human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)/neu, fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR), and neuregulin (NRG)-1.