It is imperative for clinicians to identify druggable <i>ALK</i> fusions in routine practice.<h4>Case presentation</h4>In this study, we discovered a rare <i>ALK</i> rearrangement type (<i>SDK1-ALK</i>) in a Chinese lung adenocarcinoma patient who responded well to ALK inhibitor SAF-189s. This evidence concerns the gene SDK1 and lung adenocarcinoma.