Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NASDAQ: SNTA) today presented results at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 14th World Conference on Lung Cancer from a Phase 2 single agent clinical trial of ganetespib in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that showed promising clinical activity in patients with progressive disease. Ganetespib is a potent inhibitor of heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) currently being studied in a broad range of clinical trials with approximately 400 patients treated to date. Ganetespib is structurally unrelated to first-generation, ansamycin-family Hsp90 inhibitors such as 17-AAG or IPI-504.

"Ganetespib has shown encouraging single agent clinical activity and a good safety profile in pretreated advanced NSCLC patients," said Julie Brahmer, M.D., Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins Hospital. "The case study presented today shows a patient whose ALK positive cancer had progressed on treatment with crizotinib, the most clinically advanced ALK inhibitor, who then experienced significant tumor shrinkage within the first several weeks of treatment with ganetespib. The results for ganetespib in NSCLC, particularly in patients with ALK or KRAS mutations, suggest this compound has promising potential to benefit lung cancer patients."

Of the 23 patients in the Phase 2 trial tested for ALK translocation or rearrangement (ALK+), eight patients were ALK+ in at least one assay. Six of these eight patients (75%) showed tumor shrinkage in target lesions, one patient showed no change in tumor size, and one patient achieved stable disease (tumor growth