In the subgroup analysis according to the type of RET fusion, median PFS and OS were 2.9 months (95% CI 1.1-15.7) and 10.5 months (95% CI 3.0-18.1) in patients with KIF5B-RET whereas 8.4 (95% CI 4.7-not reached [NR]) and NR (95% CI 9.9-NR) in those with CCDC6-RET....results found that vandetanib to be effective in patients with advanced RET-rearranged NSCLC, and that RET rearrangement may be a favorable molecular subgroup of NSCLC suitable for targeted therapy.

The most frequent rearrangement was KIF5B-RET (72%). Of those patients, 53 received one or more RET tyrosine kinase inhibitors in sequence: cabozantinib (21 patients), vandetanib (11 patients), sunitinib (10 patients), sorafenib (two patients), alectinib (two patients), lenvatinib (two patients), nintedanib (two patients), ponatinib (two patients), and regorafenib (one patient). The rate of any complete or partial response to cabozantinib, vandetanib, and sunitinib was 37%, 18%, and 22%, respectively. Further responses were observed with lenvantinib and nintedanib. Median progression-free survival was 2.3 months (95% CI, 1.6 to 5.0 months), and median overall survival was 6.8 months (95% CI, 3.9 to 14.3 months).