Orphan Drugs in Development for the Treatment of Small-Cell Lung Cancer: Emerging Data on Lurbinectedin

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death of all cancer entities and small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) is the most malignant subtype. Despite good initial response to chemotherapy, many patients relapse early and success of second line treatment remains poor. For years, no relevant improvement of second line treatment has been achieved in the field of SCLC. Lurbinectedin, a novel RNA-polymerase II inhibitor has shown promising results in pretreated SCLC patients as single agent and in combination with other chemotherapeutic drugs leading to an orphan drug designation from the FDA. This article reviews the current data on this emerging substance and its impact on the treatment of SCLC.