A plain language summary of the 7-year results from the CROWN study: lorlatinib compared with crizotinib in people with ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer
17 affiliations
- 1Department of Medical Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA
- 2Department of Oncology, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- 3Medical Oncology Department, Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- 4Drug Development Unit, Sarah Cannon Research Institute-Tennessee Oncology, Nashville, TN, USA
- 5Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada
- 6Department of Thoracic Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
- 7Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital and Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangdong, China
- 8Department of Haematology-Oncology, National University Cancer Institute, Singapore
- 9Thoracic Oncology Department, Toulouse University Hospital, Toulouse, France
- 10Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine and Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- 11Patient author, Lung Cancer Europe, Raglan, United Kingdom
- 12Patient author, ALK Positive, Inc, Golden, CO, USA
- 13Translational Oncology, Pfizer, La Jolla, CA, USA
- 14Oncology Drug Development, Pfizer, Milan, Italy
- 15Oncology Lung Cancer, Pfizer, Paris, France
- 16Thoracic Oncology, Pfizer, New York, NY, USA
- 17Department of Clinical Oncology, State Key Laboratory of South China, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, China
Abstract
Plain Language Summary: What is this summary about?
This is a summary of the results of a study called CROWN. The CROWN study included people with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had changes in a gene called anaplastic lymphoma kinase, or ALK, in their cancer cells. This type of cancer is called ALK-positive NSCLC. People participating in the study received a type of medicine, called an ALK inhibitor, as their first treatment. This study looked at the benefits of two ALK inhibitor medicines, called lorlatinib (also called Lorbrena/Lorviqua) and crizotinib (also called Xalkori), to understand if lorlatinib helped control the disease better than crizotinib. It also looked at side effects to determine the safety of the two medicines.
When this study began in April 2017, crizotinib was the standard treatment for people with advanced ALK-positive NSCLC. This is why crizotinib was chosen as the medicine to compare with lorlatinib. This choice was discussed and agreed with regulatory agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This analysis looked at how well lorlatinib and crizotinib worked and their side effects in people with advanced ALK-positive NSCLC after 7 years in this study.
What are the key takeaways?
In this study, 149 people took lorlatinib and 142 took crizotinib. All the people had advanced ALK-positive NSCLC. After observing people for 7 years, researchers found that more people who took lorlatinib were still alive without their cancer getting worse than people who took crizotinib. After 7 years, 66 out of 149 people (44%) were still taking lorlatinib, while only 4 out of 142 people (3%) were still taking crizotinib.
After 7 years, people who took lorlatinib had a 55% estimated chance of being alive without their cancer getting worse, compared with a 3% estimated chance in people who took crizotinib. These results show how long people lived without their cancer getting worse; they do not show whether people who took lorlatinib lived longer overall. People who took lorlatinib and were alive without their cancer getting worse in the first 24 months of treatment had a 79% estimated chance of being alive without their disease getting worse after 7 years.
The most common side effects in people who took lorlatinib were high levels of cholesterol and high levels of triglycerides (a type of fat) in the blood and edema (swelling). Between 5 and 7 years of treatment, none of the people taking lorlatinib had to stop taking it and not restart it to manage side effects. Everyone who stopped taking lorlatinib and did not restart it to manage side effects related to lorlatinib did so in the first 26 months of treatment. The types of side effects reported after 7 years and how often they happened were similar to the side effects reported after 5 years.
What were the main conclusions reported by the researchers?
The 7-year results from this study showed that more people who took lorlatinib continued to live longer without their cancer getting worse compared with people who took crizotinib. After being observed for an average of 7 years, more than half of the people who took lorlatinib are still alive without their cancer getting worse.
Lorlatinib also showed long-lasting effects in the brain, with no new cancer growth observed in the brain after the first 30 months of treatment. This means that most people with advanced ALK-positive NSCLC who participated in this study were able to be treated with lorlatinib for a long time to keep their disease from getting worse or spreading to the brain. A summary of what the findings mean to the ALK-positive NSCLC patient community is included at the end of this plain language summary.
Clinical trial number: NCT03052608
Related
- Lorlatinib versus crizotinib as first-line treatment for advanced ALK-positive non-small-cell lung cancer: 7-year update from the phase III CROWN study
- Adjuvant alectinib versus crizotinib in completely resected ALK-positive non-small-cell lung cancer: a real-world retrospective cohort study
- Lorlatinib in frontline treatment of advanced ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer: a highly efficient new standard of care but still challenging to manage
- Probable Stevens–Johnson Syndrome During Taletrectinib Treatment After Crizotinib‐Related Rash in ROS1‐Positive Lung Cancer
- Miliary Brain Metastasis with Perivascular Enhancement in ALK-Positive Lung Cancer: A Rapid Recovery after Concurrent Lorlatinib and Whole-brain Radiotherapy
BibTeX
@article{shaw2026plain,
title = {{A plain language summary of the 7-year results from the CROWN study: lorlatinib compared with crizotinib in people with ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer}},
author = {Alice T. Shaw and Benjamin J. Solomon and Enriqueta Felip and Todd M. Bauer and Geoffrey Liu and Yasushi Goto and Yi-Long Wu and Ross A. Soo and Julien Mazières and Dong-Wan Kim and Debra Montague and Nancee Pronsati and I-Ming Wang and Jolanda Paolini and Anna Polli and Nada Rifi and Ali Al-Hashimi and Francesca Toffalorio and Tony S. K. Mok},
journal = {Future Oncology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1080/14796694.2026.2734063},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1080/14796694.2026.2734063},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - A plain language summary of the 7-year results from the CROWN study: lorlatinib compared with crizotinib in people with ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer
AU - Alice T. Shaw
AU - Benjamin J. Solomon
AU - Enriqueta Felip
AU - Todd M. Bauer
AU - Geoffrey Liu
AU - Yasushi Goto
AU - Yi-Long Wu
AU - Ross A. Soo
AU - Julien Mazières
AU - Dong-Wan Kim
AU - Debra Montague
AU - Nancee Pronsati
AU - I-Ming Wang
AU - Jolanda Paolini
AU - Anna Polli
AU - Nada Rifi
AU - Ali Al-Hashimi
AU - Francesca Toffalorio
AU - Tony S. K. Mok
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/14
JO - Future Oncology
DO - 10.1080/14796694.2026.2734063
UR - https://doi.org/10.1080/14796694.2026.2734063
AB - Plain Language Summary: What is this summary about? This is a summary of the results of a study called CROWN. The CROWN study included people with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had changes in a gene called anaplastic lymphoma kinase, or ALK, in their cancer cells. This type of cancer is called ALK-positive NSCLC. People participating in the study received a type of medicine, called an ALK inhibitor, as their first treatment. This study looked at the benefits of two ALK inhibitor medicines, called lorlatinib (also called Lorbrena/Lorviqua) and crizotinib (also called Xalkori), to understand if lorlatinib helped control the disease better than crizotinib. It also looked at side effects to determine the safety of the two medicines. When this study began in April 2017, crizotinib was the standard treatment for people with advanced ALK-positive NSCLC. This is why crizotinib was chosen as the medicine to compare with lorlatinib. This choice was discussed and agreed with regulatory agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This analysis looked at how well lorlatinib and crizotinib worked and their side effects in people with advanced ALK-positive NSCLC after 7 years in this study. What are the key takeaways? In this study, 149 people took lorlatinib and 142 took crizotinib. All the people had advanced ALK-positive NSCLC. After observing people for 7 years, researchers found that more people who took lorlatinib were still alive without their cancer getting worse than people who took crizotinib. After 7 years, 66 out of 149 people (44%) were still taking lorlatinib, while only 4 out of 142 people (3%) were still taking crizotinib. After 7 years, people who took lorlatinib had a 55% estimated chance of being alive without their cancer getting worse, compared with a 3% estimated chance in people who took crizotinib. These results show how long people lived without their cancer getting worse; they do not show whether people who took lorlatinib lived longer overall. People who took lorlatinib and were alive without their cancer getting worse in the first 24 months of treatment had a 79% estimated chance of being alive without their disease getting worse after 7 years. The most common side effects in people who took lorlatinib were high levels of cholesterol and high levels of triglycerides (a type of fat) in the blood and edema (swelling). Between 5 and 7 years of treatment, none of the people taking lorlatinib had to stop taking it and not restart it to manage side effects. Everyone who stopped taking lorlatinib and did not restart it to manage side effects related to lorlatinib did so in the first 26 months of treatment. The types of side effects reported after 7 years and how often they happened were similar to the side effects reported after 5 years. What were the main conclusions reported by the researchers? The 7-year results from this study showed that more people who took lorlatinib continued to live longer without their cancer getting worse compared with people who took crizotinib. After being observed for an average of 7 years, more than half of the people who took lorlatinib are still alive without their cancer getting worse. Lorlatinib also showed long-lasting effects in the brain, with no new cancer growth observed in the brain after the first 30 months of treatment. This means that most people with advanced ALK-positive NSCLC who participated in this study were able to be treated with lorlatinib for a long time to keep their disease from getting worse or spreading to the brain. A summary of what the findings mean to the ALK-positive NSCLC patient community is included at the end of this plain language summary. Clinical trial number: NCT03052608
SN - 1479-6694
SN - 1744-8301
ER -