When can I stop taking Xalkori?

Stacy Wiegman, PharmD

Pharmacy

You should not stop taking Xalkori (crizotinib), which treats a certain kind of lung cancer, until you're instructed to do so by your doctor. This medicine can take months to work. One study found that among people whose tumors shrank, 45% took longer than two months to experience improvement.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved this drug because it shrank some of the cancerous tumors in people with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) . There is currently no research proving that Xalkori helps people live longer.

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