Lung Cancer

The development of tyrosine kinase inhibitors has revolutionized the treatment of EGFR-mutant non–small cell lung cancer in recent years, but new strategies are needed to overcome resistance mechanisms that promote disease recurrence.

After 5 years, newly diagnosed patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer demonstrated an overall survival (OS) rate of 23.2% from treatment with pembrolizumab monotherapy and previously treated patients had an OS rate of 15.5%.

Thomas E. Stinchcombe, MD, professor of medicine, Duke Cancer Institute, discusses the benefit of alectinib in the treatment of patients with ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer.

Benjamin P. Levy, MD, assistant professor of oncology, clinical director of Medical Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center and Johns Hopkins Medicine, discusses the outlook for patients with oncogene-driven non–small cell lung cancer.

Corey J. Langer, MD, highlights how precision medicine has emerged in the treatment of patients with non–small cell lung cancer via targeted therapies and checkpoint inhibitors.

Lyudmila A. Bazhenova, MD, medical oncologist, professor of clinical medicine, University of California, San Diego, discusses sequencing beyond progression on osimertinib (Tagrisso) in EGFR-mutant non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Corey J. Langer, MD, director, Thoracic Oncology, Abramson Cancer Center, professor of medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, discusses the impact of durvalumab in stage III non–small cell lung cancer.

Jeffrey M. Clarke, MD, assistant professor of medicine, Duke Cancer Institute, compares EGFR TKIs in EGFR-positive non–small cell lung cancer.

Scott J. Antonia, MD, PhD, instructor, Duke University School of Medicine, member, Duke Cancer Institute, discusses the promise of immunotherapy in patients with non–small cell lung cancer.

The FDA has approved the NovoTTF-100L System in combination with pemetrexed and platinum-based chemotherapy for the frontline treatment of patients with unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Myung-Ju Ahn, MD, discusses the results from the AURA LM trial and the next steps that need to be taken in order to confirm the efficacy that was seen with the lower dose of osimertinib in patients with EGFR-mutant non–small cell lung cancer with leptomeningeal metastases.

Corey J. Langer, MD, director, Thoracic Oncology, Abramson Cancer Center, professor of medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, discusses the use of next-generation sequencing in non–small cell lung cancer.

Sai-Hong I. Ou, MD, PhD, discusses the status of different mutations in lung cancer and the work being done to bring clinically meaningful treatments to the space.

Mesothelin, a protein found on cell surfaces and in serum, has emerged as a promising target for immunotherapy-based treatment approaches for several malignancies with poor prognoses and limited treatment options. Investigating novel approaches to optimize delivery and identifying combinations of agents to synergistically improve therapeutic response will be the next steps in bringing mesothelin-targeted therapies into the clinical setting.

Sai-Hong I. Ou, MD, highlights the conveniences of liquid biopsies relative to tissue biopsies, as well as current drawbacks to their use in detecting targetable alterations in lung cancer.

Benjamin P. Levy, MD, assistant professor of oncology, clinical director of Medical Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center and Johns Hopkins Medicine, discusses the benefits of liquid biopsies in non–small cell lung cancer.

Two in 3 patients treated with PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors experienced at least 1 AE and 1 in 7 patients experienced at least 1 grade ≥3 AE, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials and study updates published through December 15, 2018.

Bing Xia, MD, assistant professor of clinical medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, discusses the frontline treatment landscape of ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Lyudmila A. Bazhenova, MD, discusses the phase III PACIFIC trial and clinical scenarios that warrant further investigation in the field of stage III non–small cell lung cancer.

Bing Xia, MD, discusses the latest immunotherapy developments in nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer, as well as sequencing strategies for patients with ALK-positive disease.

Nicolas Girad, MD, discusses the importance of evaluating durvalumab in a real-world setting, other questions that remain unanswered in this area, and the role of immunotherapy in patients with non–small cell lung cancer.