Clinical Summary:

• Design/Population: Updated data from the TRUST-I and TRUST-II trials evaluated taletrectinib in patients with ROS1-mutated advanced non-small cell lung cancer. 
• Key Outcomes: Taletrectinib achieved durable response exceeding 4 years, including activity in patients with CNS metastases and G2032R resistance mutations.
• Clinical Relevance: Taletrectinib provides long-term disease control in ROS-positive non-small cell lung cancer, highlighting the critical role of appropriate molecular testing to identify eligible patients. 

Lyudmila Bazhenova, MD, Unviersity of California, San Diego, California, discusses results from the phase 2 TRUST-I and TRUST-II trials, evaluating taletrectinib among patients with ROS1-mutated advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). 

The studies demonstrate that taletrectinib provides durable response, including intracranial activity and efficacy against G2032R resistance mutations, with a favorable safety profile.

These results were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in San Diego, California. 

Transcript:

Hi, I'm Dr Lyudmila Bazhenova, professor of medicine and thoracic medical oncologist from University of California San Diego Morris Cancer Center. I am here to discuss recently presented data on taletrectinib, in April of 2026 at AACR, and try to put a slightly different spin on the data, primarily trying to understand the potential impact that data might have on patients.

It is very important to make sure that in patients with stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer we are doing molecular testing. Patients cannot get an access to taletrectinib, or any other ROS1 tyrosine kinase inhibitors, unless testing is being done. It is also very important to understand what type of testing is necessary. In lung cancer, many of our patients have fusions as an alteration and fusions are commonly missed on a DNA analysis. If any patients are listening, very important to make sure that the molecular testing that is performed on your tissue includes both DNA and RNA because DNA can miss about 15% of the patients who might have fusions and additional alterations are easily missed on a DNA analysis.

The taletrectinib duration of response in a combined analysis lasted longer than 4 years. That usually means, as a physician, that we do not need to deliver bad news in more than half of the patients by the time progression reaches– this is something that we really cannot measure on a clinical trial. The only potential way of measuring that is patient-related outcomes (PRO), which is not designed to capture the stress and need to rethink your strategy when the current treatment stops working. This period is very stressful for the patients, and very stressful for us as physician’s because we have our patient's interest at heart first and foremost and having to deliver negative news to the patients is not easy. It's always good to have a drug where I don't have to do that for some time.

Source:

Liu G, Nieva J, Bazhenova L, et al. Taletrectinib in tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI)-pretreated patients with ROS1+ non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC): Updated data from TRUST-I and TRUST-II. Presented at AACR Annual. April 17 - 22, 2026; San Diego, California. CT244.