Xalkori

Xalkori is a cancer medicine used on its own to treat adults with a type of lung cancer called non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), when the disease is advanced. It can be used if the NSCLC is ‘ALK-positive’, which means that the cancer cells contain certain changes affecting the gene responsible for a protein called ALK (anaplastic lymphoma kinase). It is also used when the NSCLC is ‘ROS1-positive’. This means that the cancer cells contain changes affecting the gene responsible for the protein ROS1. Xalkori can also be used to treat children and adolescents from 1 to less than 18 years of age with ALK-positive anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), a type of blood cancer, or with ALK-positive inflammatory myofibroblastic tumour (IMT) that cannot be removed by surgery. IMT is a usually benign tumour affecting a type of muscle cells called myofibroblasts, which play an important role in the wound healing process. Xalkori contains the active substance crizotinib.