In the past decade, the advent of targeted therapy led to a silent revolution in the war against lung cancer and a significant evolution on the concept of Phase I clinical trials design. Thanks to the specificity of their target, the new drugs have radically changed NSCLC treatment, leading to the development of personalized strategies. The accelerated approval of the first ALK-inhibitor, Crizotinib and more recently Ceritinib, without a Phase III randomized, clinical trial, has been an amazing success story in lung cancer research, marking the beginning of a new decade of targeted drugs development, characterized by modern, biomarker-driven, early clinical trial design and shorter times for clinical approval. Is Ceritinib a new panacea for the treatment of ALK-rearranged NSCLC? We aimed to discuss the reasons of such success, including the new emerging questions, regarding mechanisms of acquired resistance, and the best treatment algorithm for ALK-rearranged NSCLC patients.
Keywords: Ceritinib; Crizotinib; EML4-ALK; NSCLC.