Dr. Jack West, Swedish Cancer Institute, discusses current trials seeking to determine the efficacy of combining immunotherapy agents in lung cancer.

Dr. Jack West, Swedish Cancer Institute, reviews the choices for a first-line chemotherapy regimen based on a squamous histology.

Dr. Jack West, Swedish Cancer Institute, addresses the issue of choosing a first-line chemotherapy regimen based on an adenocarcinoma histology.

Dr. Jack West, Swedish Cancer Institute, identifies the platinum-based chemotherapy doublet as the backbone of first-line treatment for the majority of NSCLC patients.

Dr. Nathan Pennell, Cleveland Clinic, evaluates chemotherapy sensitivity assays, describing the difficulties inherent in predicting response to chemotherapy agents.

An analysis of two large studies of EGFR lung cancer patients tried to determine if Gilotrif helped patients live longer.

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The historic standard for advanced NSCLC up until a few years ago was for patients to complete 4-6 cycles of platinum-based doublet chemo, and then for patients who were doing well and had responded or demonstrated stable disease to take a break from treatment and be followed until progression. At that point, many patients would re-initiate chemo or targeted therapy with an oral agent like Tarceva (erlotinib).

A lot of new data have emerged over the last 2-3 years that have addressed the concept of "maintenance therapy" for patients with advanced NSCLC (see Dr. Socinski's excellent podcast for a general review).