Lung Cancer

Research released at the 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting showed great promise for squamous cell lung cancer patients taking the immunotherapy drug Opdivo (nivolumab). But can we predict which patients will do well on it?

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Guest post by Dr. Cathy Pietanza, a board-certified medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. She specializes in cancers that arise in the lungs and cares for a large number of patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC).

Cancer researchers need to hear from lung cancer patients who have gone through chemotherapy and experienced various side effects.

Dr. Thomas John is a thoracic oncologist at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre in Australia.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology's (ASCO) Annual Meeting brings together 30,000 oncology professionals from around the world. Educational sessions feature world-renowned faculty discussing state-of-the-art treatment modalities, new therapies, and ongoing controversies in the field. The meeting will take place May 29 - June  2, 2015. 

Last year, an article came out in the Journal of Clinical Oncology that noted a gradual shift away from the "hard endpoint" of overall survival (OS) for lung cancer trials toward progression-free survival (PFS), a "softer endpoint" that is much more subject to interpretation.

It's been a big week for immunotherapy for lung cancer. Right on the heels of a press release that the PD-1 inhibitor Opdivo (nivolumab) significantly improved survival for patients with advanced non-squamous NSCLC, my friend Dr. Garon from UCLA presented results at the American Association for Cancer Research conference with another PD-1 inhibitor, Keytruda (pembrolizumab).

In January, 2015, the CheckMate 017 trial of the immune checkpoint inhibitor Opdivo (nivolumab) versus the standard chemo agent Taxotere (docetaxel) as second line therapy for patients with advanced squamous NSCLC was reported in a press release to be positive for a significant improvement in overall survival.