ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced the commencement of a phase I/II study on AP32788, for the treatment of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with specific mutations in EGFR or HER2.

The study will evaluate the safety, pharmacokinetics, tolerability and anti-tumor activity of AP32788 in patients with NSCLC. ARIAD will conduct the study in two stages – a dose escalation phase, which will be followed by an expansion phase.

ARIAD estimates that there are roughly 6,000 patients in the U.S. living with EGFR exon 20 or HER2 point mutations, based on a broader data set of 175,000 patients with stage IIIb or IV NSCLC living in the U.S. in 2015, as per Kantar Health.

Apart from AP32788, brigatinib, is the most advanced candidate in the company’s pipeline, which is being developed for the treatment of certain patients with a form of NSCLC. The company expects to file for approval for brigatinib in the U.S. in the third quarter of 2016 and potentially launch the candidate in early 2017.

Currently, ARIAD has one sole marketed product in its portfolio, which is a leukemia drug, Iclusig.

ARIAD is a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock. Some better-ranked stocks in the healthcare sector are Juniper Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stock and Acerus Pharmaceuticals Corp. and Apricus Biosciences, Inc. – both Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stocks.

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