LUNG CANCER

Tumor mutational burden has been correlated with response to immunotherapy use in patients treated with immune checkpoint blockade. However, use of this biomarker has been challenged along the way with various criticisms of validity and routine use.

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.

An important milestone in the treatment landscape of extensive-stage small cell lung cancer has been trials of first-line chemoimmunotherapy. However, a study that requires better understanding of the methods and can be used to determine patients who are likely to experience durable benefits to therapy is currently concentrated.

The use of chemoimmunotherapy as treatment of patients with treatment-naive stage IIIB or IV nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer was the topic of a Targeted Oncology Case Based Peer Perspective discussion led by Charu Aggarwal, MD, MPH.

A selection of therapies exist for patients with oncogene-driven lung cancer. Ticiana Leal, MD, discussed these options with a group of peers during a Targeted Oncology Case Based Peer Perspectives event.

Benjamin Levy, MD, discusses how the role of immunotherapy has evolved in the treatment landscape of lung cancer and where he sees this research headed in the future.

The FDA has accepted the supplemental Biologics License Application for cemiplimab-rwlc and granted it Priority Review for the frontline treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer with ≥50% PD-L1 expression.

During a Targeted Oncology Case Based Peer Perspective event, Jarushka Naidoo, MBBCh, discussed a case of a 63-year-old patients with non–small cell lung cancer.

Afatinib, an FDA-approved frontline treatment for patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer, has now demonstrated efficacy and tolerable safety in the second-line setting of metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the lung

Encouraging anti-tumor activity was observed with the combination of quavonlimab and pembrolizumab when given as frontline therapy to patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer in a phase 1 study.

Four-year follow-up data from cohort G KEYNOTE-021 reinforced the use of the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer.

During a Medical Crossfire at the 21st Annual International Lung Cancer Congress, Paul A. Bunn, Jr, MD, debated with Karen L. Reckamp, MD, MS, about frontline single-agent immune checkpoint inhibitors versus combined chemotherapy and immunotherapy for the treatment of patients with advanced NSCLC.

During a Targeted Oncology Case Based Peer Perspectives event, Konstantinos Arnaoutakis, MD, discussed the case of a 63-year-old patient with non–small cell lung cancer.

Multiple agents are now challenging chemotherapy as the golden standard in the front-line setting of advanced non–small cell lung cancer.

The combination of nivolumab plus chemotherapy induced a statistically significant improvement in pathologic complete response as neoadjuvant treatment of patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer.

The FDA approved nivolumab in combination with ipilimumab for the frontline treatment of adult patients with unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma.

In a phase 3 trial, atezolizumab demonstrated a significantly longer overall survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer who had high PD-L1 expression regardless of histologic type compared with platinum-based chemotherapy.

Afatinib monotherapy demonstrated clinical activity in Asian and non-Asian patients with non–small cell lung cancer who harbored uncommon EGFR mutations, according to findings from a subanalysis of the afatinib uncommon mutation database.

Vivek Subbiah, MD, shares his take home message regarding the treatment of patients with non–small cell lung cancer who harbor a RET fusion.

The presence of hypothyroidism caused by treatment with immunotherapy correlated with improvement in overall survival among patients with non–small cell lung cancer, suggesting that thyroid toxicity may be a predictor of response to immunotherapy in this patient population.

In the phase 3 EMPOWER-Lung 1 trial, patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer with PD-L1 expression on at least 50% of their tumor cells, had a significant improvement in overall survival and progression-free survival with cemiplimab-rwlc monotherapy compared with platinum-doublet chemotherapy.

Patients with completely resected stage IIIAN2 non–small cell lung cancer should not be recommended for post-operative radiotherapy, according to results from the phase 3 LungART trial that were presented during the ESMO Virtual Congress 2020, due to nonstatistically significant increase in disease-free survival versus those treated in the control group.

According to results from the phase 3 CROWN trial, the third-generation ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitor loralitinib achieved a significant improvement in progression-free survival as well as higher overall and intracranial response rates, compared with crizotinib in patients with ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer.

The use of durvalumab as treatment of patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer in the neoadjuvant setting showed preliminary promise with a satisfactory complete surgical resection rate, according to the phase 2 IFCT-1601 IONESC study.