EMA approves Bayer’s NTRK-targetting Vitrakvi for children and adults

Bayer has announced that the European Medicine Agency (EMA) has licensed its Vitrakvi (larotrectinib) in adults and children with solid tumours displaying Neurotrophic Tyrosine Receptor Kinase (NTRK) gene fusion. The indicated patients must also have either locally advanced or metastatic disease, or be in a situation where there are no adequate treatment options or surgical resection is likely to cause severe morbidity. This makes Vitrakvi the first tumour agnostic drug to be approved in the European Union (EU), which means it can be used against multiple tumour types with the same, rare genetic alteration. NTRK gene fusion occurs when the NTRK gene fuses with an unrelated gene, leading to an altered TRK protein, which has oncogenic drivers encouraging the spread and growth of cancer cells.