RET-driven cancers include medullary and papillary thyroid cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, colorectal and bile duct cancer, which have been very difficult to treat till date. Chemotherapy has been the only available treatment but leads to multiple side effects.
As per a phase-1 human trial led by the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, BLU-667 was considered as a novel safe and effective oral drug which is 100 times more selective in treating receptor tyrosine kinase (RET) driven cancers.

Vivek Subbiah, M.D., Assistant professor of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics said, "There is a critical unmet need for effective drugs against cancers that have the RET alteration, as there are no highly potent inhibitors currently approved specifically for these RET-driven cancers."

BLU-667 therapy could successfully stop genetic mutations and led to the reduction in tumor size and distribution, followed by the least number of side effects and overall improvement in the quality of patient’s life.

Vivek Subbiah finally said, "Overall, the data show the precision-targeted therapy with next-generation kinase inhibitors can have a powerful impact on patients with RET-driven cancers. We hope this new therapy will enable patients to benefit from the recent advances in genomic profiling that have revolutionized treatment options for patients with kinase-driven diseases."