The latest from ALK Positive, Inc.

ALK Positive, Inc. became a registered 501c3 (nonprofit) organization in March 2021.

Both the ALK Positive Board of Directors and the ALK Positive Committees are comprised of volunteer members from the ALK Positive Support Group, all ALK-positive patients or caregivers themselves.

The Board and Committees are all working together to improve the life expectancy and quality of life of ALK-positive cancer patients worldwide.

Here are a few of the latest highlights of what our nonprofit has been up to:

• We have contracted MedChem Partners (medchempartners.com) to explore the potential development of Lorlatinib-based PROTAC technology as a possible new treatment option for ALK patients. You can read about PROTACs here.

• We have partnered with PathPresenter (pathpresenter.ai), to develop AI software seeking to use “computerized image analysis” of radiology images (and later, scanned histology images) to more accurately and rapidly diagnose disease, predict tumor biomarkers, predict prognosis or response to specific therapies, more precisely measure tumor behavior on therapy, and detect early signs of therapy resistance. This research project is 100% funded by PathPresenter and we will invite Support Group members to participate in the near future.

• We have partnered with ClinWiki (www.clinwiki.org), a free platform offering an improved experience of searching for clinical trials, to create an ALK-specific clinical trials database. The database has been curated by ALK Positive volunteers and will be searchable by location, line of treatment, or keywords such as name of medication. This joint project will be launched in November. You can find more details in the ‘Clinical Trials’ article in this month’s newsletter.

• Our Research Acceleration Committee (part of the Medical Committee) has been working to bring together biotech companies, venture capital firms and key opinion leaders/expert researchers and oncologists within the ALK lung cancer space. The goal is to facilitate collaborations and funding that can accelerate the development of new, potentially curative therapies, and to bring them to clinic as soon as possible. There have been many meetings, and collaborations leading to new trials and accelerated drug development have already resulted.

• Our Clinical Trials Committee (part of the Medical Committee) has been working with pharmaceutical companies running clinical trials relevant to ALK-positive patients to ensure that the trials are successful. Improving patient access and accrual and trial design are some of the key priorities of this initiative. The Clinical Trials Committee has been collaborating with Turning Point Therapeutics and Nuvalent, both of whom are developing 4th generation ALK TKIs for potential use after Lorlatinib, as well as with other companies with treatments suitable for ALK patients.

• We have been working closely with LUNGevity Foundation to coordinate and announce the next round of research grant awards for 2021/22 in the near future. You can read more about our current research grants here.

• We are in the initial stages of planning our next ALK Summit in the summer of 2022. Details will be announced in the coming months.

• Thanks to the generosity and strategic vision of a number of private donors, we have secured funding to employ a full-time Chief Scientific Officer (CSO), starting soon. The role is expected to help take our existing medical/scientific projects to the next level and expand our reach with new projects and partnerships aimed at offering ALK patients more and improved therapeutic options. Stay tuned for more announcements on our first CSO in the near future.