Here is the first podcast of what we plan will be an ongoing series of round table discussions with cancer experts about real case scenarios and how we make decisions in practice. My guests for the discussion are Drs. Janessa Laskin, medical oncologist from British Columbia Cancer Agency in Vancouver, BC, and Alan Sandler, medical oncologist and Director of Hematology/Oncology at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.

I'm fortunate to practice at Moffitt, where Dr. Gerold Bepler and Dr. George Simon pioneered a molecularly directed approach to front-line chemotherapy in NSCLC. Data from the phase II clinical trial demonstrated impressive median survival for a platinum-based doublet: 13.3 months. The schema of the MADeIT clinical trial is shown below and I'm happy to say that I am able to put many of my patients on this clinical trial. Dr.

“Are we theeeeere yet?” Every parent knows that familiar whining from the back seat of the car. Sometimes, I feel as impatient as the kid in the back of the car. Although EGFR mutation helps with predicting tarceva (erlotinib) response, I want markers for cytotoxic (traditional) chemotherapy now. Unlike the parent in the driver’s seat of the car, I’m not entirely sure where we are, or where we’re going. Sometimes I feel as though I’m driving in the dark. Could molecular markers be the headlights?

Dr. Pinder previously summarized the early story of the newly identified EML4-ALK mutation in NSCLC, which traces back only a couple of years. Amazingly, in that short time, treatments targeting this mutation have already been identified and administered to patients who are benefiting from these novel agents at this very moment.