{"entity":{"id":"alexander-drilon","kind":"person","name":"Alexander Drilon","aka":[],"tldr":"Led the trials of larotrectinib, entrectinib, repotrectinib and selpercatinib that turned rare gene fusions into treatable targets.","summary":"Alexander Drilon is Chief of the Early Drug Development Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he specialises in oncogene-driven lung cancer and phase 1 trials. He is known for leading the trials of larotrectinib, entrectinib, repotrectinib and selpercatinib that turned rare NTRK, ROS1 and RET gene fusions into treatable targets, including as lead author on the pivotal larotrectinib and repotrectinib studies and as a leader of the LIBRETTO RET programme. His selected papers cover larotrectinib in TRK fusion-positive cancers in adults and children, and repotrectinib in ROS1 fusion-positive non-small-cell lung cancer. He now runs the early drug development programme at MSK, with a focus on small-molecule kinase inhibitors in lung and thyroid cancer.","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"MSK profile","url":"https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/doctors/alexander-drilon"},{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Drilon%20A%5BAuthor%5D"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["nsclc","thyroid"],"sections":[],"technologies":["kinase-inhibitors"],"targets":["ntrk","ros1","ret"],"drugs":["repotrectinib","selpercatinib"],"companies":[],"institutions":["mskcc"],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"role":"Chief, Early Drug Development Service","institutionId":"mskcc","specialisms":["Oncogene-driven lung cancer","NTRK, ROS1, RET fusions","Phase 1 trials"],"profiles":[{"label":"MSK profile","url":"https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/doctors/alexander-drilon"},{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Drilon%20A%5BAuthor%5D"}],"papers":[{"title":"Efficacy of larotrectinib in TRK fusion-positive cancers in adults and children","journal":"New England Journal of Medicine","year":2018,"url":"https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1714448","doi":"10.1056/NEJMoa1714448"},{"title":"Repotrectinib in ROS1 fusion-positive non-small-cell lung cancer","journal":"New England Journal of Medicine","year":2024,"url":"https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2302299","doi":"10.1056/NEJMoa2302299"}]},"route":"/people/alexander-drilon/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"met-altered-nsclc","kind":"cancer","name":"MET exon 14 and MET-amplified non-small-cell lung cancer","route":"/cancers/met-altered-nsclc/"},{"id":"nsclc","kind":"cancer","name":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","route":"/cancers/nsclc/"},{"id":"ntrk-fusion-nsclc","kind":"cancer","name":"NTRK fusion-positive non-small-cell lung cancer","route":"/cancers/ntrk-fusion-nsclc/"},{"id":"ret-fusion-nsclc","kind":"cancer","name":"RET fusion-positive non-small-cell lung cancer","route":"/cancers/ret-fusion-nsclc/"},{"id":"ros1-positive-nsclc","kind":"cancer","name":"ROS1-positive non-small-cell lung cancer","route":"/cancers/ros1-positive-nsclc/"},{"id":"thyroid","kind":"cancer","name":"Thyroid cancer","route":"/cancers/thyroid/"}],"technology":[{"id":"kinase-inhibitors","kind":"technology","name":"Small-molecule kinase inhibitors","route":"/technologies/kinase-inhibitors/"}],"target":[{"id":"ntrk","kind":"target","name":"NTRK","route":"/targets/ntrk/"},{"id":"ret","kind":"target","name":"RET","route":"/targets/ret/"},{"id":"ros1","kind":"target","name":"ROS1","route":"/targets/ros1/"}],"drug":[{"id":"repotrectinib","kind":"drug","name":"Repotrectinib","route":"/drugs/repotrectinib/"},{"id":"selpercatinib","kind":"drug","name":"Selpercatinib","route":"/drugs/selpercatinib/"}],"institution":[{"id":"mskcc","kind":"institution","name":"Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center","route":"/institutions/mskcc/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-enrgy-zenocutuzumab-nrg1-fusion-positive-cancer-nejm-2025","kind":"paper","name":"eNRGy: efficacy of zenocutuzumab in NRG1 fusion-positive cancer","route":"/key-papers/paper-enrgy-zenocutuzumab-nrg1-fusion-positive-cancer-nejm-2025/"}]}}