Tejas Patil, MD, has been named recipient of the 2022 Hamoui Foundation and LUNGevity Clinical Research Award for his research surrounding RET-positive lung cancer.  RET is a driver mutation found in approximately one to two percent of people with non-small cell lung cancer.  This award aims to transform RET-positive lung cancer into a chronic or curable condition.   Dr. Patil's research, entitled MET and EGFR as biomarkers for amivantamab in overcoming RET TKI resistance, centers around two possible pathways that seem to be important for resistance to RET inhibitors, EGFR and MET signaling pathways.

Conventional methods of detecting EGFR or MET resistance may not identify many cases where both pathways are involved. In this study, Dr. Patil will use several different laboratory techniques to better detect and define EGFR and MET resistance. He anticipates that the EGFR and MET pathways can be blocked by a newer drug called amivantamab, which is a bi-specific antibody that specifically targets both EGFR and MET.

Congratulations Dr. Patil!