Phase III data from a randomized trial of crizotinib versus standard chemotherapy in patients with advanced ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) will be presented this Sunday (9/30) at the 2012 Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO).

For any coverage you may be planning around this study, please consider speaking with Gregory J. Riely, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Reily specializes in treating patients with ALK-positive NSCLC and has studied the use of crizotinib in this patient population.

He was the lead author of a global Phase II crizotinib trial that examined either safety or tumor response in over 1,100 patients. Findings from that trial, which were presented earlier this month at the Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology, revealed an overall response rate of 60 percent and a median progression free survival (PFS) of eight months.

Dr. Riely would welcome the opportunity to discuss the new Phase III crizotinib data to be presented at ESMO. Please contact me to schedule an interview.

Also, please note that the ESMO abstract, entitled “Phase III study of crizotinib versus pemetrexed or docetaxel chemotherapy in patients with advanced ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)” is embargoed until Sunday, 9/30, at 9AM CEST (3AM EDT).