Selpercatinib for lung and thyroid cancers with RET gene mutations or fusions.

Aberrations in oncogene RET (rearranged during transfection) have been found to be the cause of different kinds of malignancies, especially in lung and thyroid cancers. Targeted therapy of RET-altered cancers using multi-kinase inhibitors (MKIs) has demonstrated limited clinical efficacy due to off-target toxicity. In May 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a novel specific RET inhibitor for use in some subtypes of lung and thyroid cancers with RET alterations. In this review, we summarize the mechanism of action, pharmaceutical properties and clinical data of selpercatinib, and share some of our perspectives.