Yeouido St. Mary's Hospital, Korea's First to Conduct 'KRAS G12C' Lung Cancer Mutation Co-Diagnostic Test

Professor Kim Tae-jung of the Department of Pathology at Catholic University Yeouido St. Mary's Hospital is conducting companion diagnostic testing for lung cancer mutation (KRAS G12C).

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] The Catholic University of Korea Yeouido St. Mary's Hospital announced on the 15th that it will conduct the country's first companion diagnostic test for lung cancer mutation (KRAS G12C).

Typically, KRAS mutations are present in about 25% of lung cancer cases, and particularly, the KRAS G12C mutation often shows resistance to existing standard treatments, resulting in lower survival rates for non-small cell lung cancer patients with this mutation compared to other lung cancer patients.

However, recently, the KRAS G12C targeted therapy drug 'Lumakras' has been developed and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. According to a study published last year, more than 80% of patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer who received Lumakras treatment at least once showed a high therapeutic effect.

Yeouido St. Mary's Hospital has introduced the FDA-approved companion diagnostic test, 'therascreen KRAS RGQ Companion Diagnostic Test,' for selecting patients eligible for Lumakras treatment, for the first time in Korea.

Professor Kim Tae-jung of the Department of Pathology said, "The treatment for KRAS mutation patients is the result of decades of efforts by many doctors to develop therapeutic agents, and we hope it will bring new hope to KRAS mutant lung cancer patients who previously had no targeted treatment options."

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