Mark G. Kris, MD

Mark G. Kris, MD, medical oncologist, William and Joy Ruane Chair in Thoracic Oncology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses 1 of the major topics of discussion from the 15th Annual New York Lung Cancers Symposium, among other areas of focus at the meeting.

One of the key messages at this year’s meeting is that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is now another complication of lung cancer, says Kris. The discussions during this meeting will focus on some very important issues in lung cancer, and at this time, COVID-19 has become a threat for patients with lung cancer that needs to be addressed.

Kris says that all but 2 of his patients with lung cancer died from the cancer as opposed to COVID-19, so this demonstrates it is a threat to patients that needs to be managed. This is an important topic at this year’s meeting, among others that will address new therapeutic approaches and emerging technologies in the lung cancer space.

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Mark G. Kris, MD, discusses 1 of the major topics of discussion from the 15th Annual New York Lung Cancers Symposium, among other areas of focus at the meeting.

Expert Highlights Key Topics of Discussion at the 15th Annual New York Lung Cancers Symposium

Mark G. Kris, MD, the William and Joy Ruane Chair in Thoracic Oncology in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses treatment options for

-mutant nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Evidence shows that patients with high levels of

amplification can be treated with drugs that target the MET kinase. The occurrence of

is common in the smoking patient population. The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, according to Kris, sees as many

alterations. Kris suggests performing next-generation sequencing on every patient with NSCLC upon diagnosis to find

There are a few drugs available that are effective in treating

-mutant NSCLC. Currently, the standard of care is crizotinib (Xalkori), but preliminary research shows that other drugs, including capmatinib, savolitinib, and tepotinib, have better degrees of benefit and tolerability compared with crizotinib. Kris believes these drugs will eventually be approved by the FDA and become the new standards of care for patients with

Mark G. Kris, MD, discusses treatment options for <em>MET</em>-mutant non&ndash;small cell lung cancer.

Treatment Options in MET-Mutant NSCLC

Mark G. Kris, MD, a medical oncologist and the William and Joy Ruane Chair in Thoracic Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the importance of delaying relapse in patients with

-positive nonsmall cell lung cancer. He shares the significance of the findings from the phase III RELAY trial, where the goal was to delay the time to relapse by adding ramucirumab (Cyramza) to erlotinib (Tarceva).

EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), such as erlotinib or osimertinib (Tagrisso), can cause

mutant cancers to shrink, ultimately lengthening and improving the lives of all patients with lung cancer. However, TKIs, including the newer generations, still do not cure patients.

Kris says that every patient with stage IV lung cancer will relapse, and investigators are actively looking for more ways to delay the cancer from coming back or prevent it altogether; relapse itself can be devastating for a patient, both psychically and emotionally.

Data has suggested that the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to erlotinib could lengthen the time to relapse by 6 months compared to erlotinib alone, Kris says. However, the RELAY trial shows that by using a different drug targeting angiogenesis, such as ramucirumab, time to relapse could also be delayed. This is good news as ramucirumab is widely available in the United States.

Mark G. Kris, MD, discusses the importance of delaying relapse in patients with&nbsp;<em>EGFR</em>-positive non&ndash;small cell lung cancer. He shares the significance of the findings from the phase III RELAY trial, where the goal was to delay the time to relapse by adding ramucirumab to erlotinib.

Ramucirumab Used to Delay Relapse Following EGFR TKIs in EGFR+ NSCLC

Mark G. Kris, MD, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses what is most important in treating patients with lung cancer today.

First, Kris says that at every decision point, physicians should look at all therapeutic options for each individual illness and patient. By not looking at these individual variations, patients are not receiving the more effective therapy that could be better for that individual person.

Kris also notes that a multiple modality concept should be used at this point in time as well. More options are available than before, such as surgery, ablation, or stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). Physicians should not simply be switching to different chemotherapy, EGFR agents, or tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs).

Mark G. Kris, MD, discusses what is most important in treating patients with lung cancer today.

Mark G. Kris, MD | Authors

Articles

Expert Highlights Key Topics of Discussion at the 15th Annual New York Lung Cancers Symposium

Treatment Options in MET-Mutant NSCLC

Ramucirumab Used to Delay Relapse Following EGFR TKIs in EGFR+ NSCLC

Advice for Treating Patients With Lung Cancer