New treatments in advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor

Purpose of review
The current article revisits the most recent advances that occurred in the field of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) therapeutics.
Recent findings
GIST is driven by the oncogenic activation of KIT or PDGFRA receptor tyrosine kinases, and agents targeting these receptors lead to substantial benefit throughout the entire course of the disease. Two new drugs were approved in 2020. On one hand, ripretinib obtained the regulatory approval for the treatment of GIST patients after progression to all standard treatments. On the other hand, avapritinib became the first agent ever displaying activity in GIST driven by the multiresistant PDGFRA D842V mutation. The addition of both drugs to GIST therapeutics constitutes a remarkable milestone, particularly considering that the last agent approved w…