Biomarker-Driven Lung Cancer

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type of lung cancer, accounting for approximately 80% to 85% of lung cancer cases, whereas small cell lung cancer (SCLC) comprises approximately 10% to 15% of lung cancer cases.

Nonsquamous non‒small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a heterogeneous disease with multiple treatment options dependent upon staging, presence of metastasis, and patient factors—including presence of comorbidities—among other considerations. As such, current treatment options include surgical resection, chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy.

In a presentation at the&nbsp;35th annual CFS, Edward S. Kim, MD, discussed the &quot;renaissance&quot; in the&nbsp;non&ndash;small cell lung cancer landscape that has come with the rapid evolution of targeted treatment for patients with&nbsp;<em>EGFR</em>-mutation&ndash;positive disease.

Four tumor serum markers commonly used in other solid tumors could be used in monitoring therapeutic outcomes in patients with stage IV lung adenocarcinoma, according to a single-center retrospective analysis.

David R. Gandara, MD, director, Thoracic Oncology Program, professor, senior advisor to director, UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, UC Davis Health System, discusses results of the ALEX clinical trial, which compared alectinib (Alecensa) versus crizotinib (Xalkori) in patients with ALK+&nbsp;non&ndash;small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

H. Jack West, MD, a thoracic oncologist of Swedish Cancer Institute at Swedish Medical Center, discusses appropriate treatment for patients with stage IV adenocarcinoma who do not harbor oncogenic drivers.

Alectinib (Alecensa) has received FDA approval for the frontline treatment of patients with&nbsp;ALK-positive metastatic non&ndash;small cell lung cancer,&nbsp;Genentech, the manufacturer of the second-generation ALK inhibitor, announced today.

Robert C. Doebele, MD, PhD, associate professor, Division of Medical Oncology, University of Colorado, discusses the significance of the results of a trial exploring entrectinib in patients with&nbsp;ROS1-positive non&ndash;small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Alexander Drilon, MD, medical oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the importance of central nervous system (CNS) activity in agents for the treatment of non&ndash;small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Based on positive progression-free survival results from the PACIFIC trial, a supplemental biologics license application for durvalumab (Imfinzi) for the treatment of patients with stage III, unresectable non&ndash;small cell lung cancer has been granted a priority review by the FDA.

Abemaciclib (Verzenio) failed to meet its primary endpoint of improving overall survival versus erlotinib (Tarceva) in patients with&nbsp;<em>KRAS</em>-mutated, advanced non&ndash;small cell lung cancer who progressed after platinum-based chemotherapy, according to topline results from the phase III JUNIPER trial.

Osimertinib (Tagrisso) has been granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation by the FDA for the&nbsp;first-line treatment of patients with metastatic <em>EGFR </em>mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Everett E. Vokes, MD, John E. Ultmann Professor of Medicine and Radiation Oncology, physician-in-chief, University of Chicago Medicine, and biological sciences chair, department of medicine, discusses PARP inhibitors for the treatment of lung cancer.

The third-generation EGFR inhibitor osimertinib had substantial clinical activity against brain metastases in Asia-Pacific patients with advanced non&ndash;small cell lung cancer harboring the <em>T790M</em> resistance mutation, an updated analysis of a randomized trial showed.

H. Jack West, MD, medical oncologist, Swedish Cancer Institute of Swedish Medical Center, discusses the results of the&nbsp;phase III FLAURA study of frontline osimertinib (Tagrisso) in patients with&nbsp;EGFR-mutant non&ndash;small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

A multicenter retrospective analysis presented at the 2017 ESMO Congress found that a newly defined subset of patients treated with anti-PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapy&nbsp;experienced accelerated tumor growth indicative of hyperprogressive disease (HPD).

Frontline treatment with the combination of&nbsp;dabrafenib and trametinib induced an&nbsp;objective response rate of 64% (95% CI, 46%-79%) and a disease control rate of 75% in patients with&nbsp;<em>BRAF</em>-mutant metastatic non&ndash;small cell lung cancer.

Vx-001, a cancer vaccine that employs a new strategy targeting a universal tumor antigen, significantly improved overall survival in patients with advanced or metastatic non&ndash;small cell lung cancer who developed an immune response to the vaccine, according to findings presented at the 2017 ESMO Annual Congress in Madrid, Spain.

Today, ABP-215, a biosimilar for bevacizumab developed by Amgen and Allergan, received FDA approval for the treatment of several different cancer types, making it the first biosimilar approved for the treatment of cancer.

Manmeet Ahluwalia, MD, Cleveland Clinic, discusses treatments that are showing promise for patients with lung cancer who develop brain metastases.

Paul A. Bunn, MD, discusses why pseudoprogression and hyperprogression are concerns when treating patients with immunotherapy, and weighed in on what to do in each situation.

An investigational RET inhibitor demonstrated clinical activity in a subgroup of patients with RET fusion-positive non&ndash;small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to data from a phase Ib trial reported at the ESMO Annual Congress in Madrid.<br /> &nbsp;

Corey J. Langer, MD, Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine; Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, discusses the prevalence of patients with non-driver non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).&nbsp;

Corey J. Langer, MD, Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, discusses current treatment strategies for patients with non-driver nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Corey J. Langer, MD, Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine; Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, discusses ongoing clinical trials for patients with non-driver non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Corey J. Langer, MD, Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine; Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, discusses remaining challenges in the treatment of patients with non-driver non-small cell lung cancer.

There was no overall survival improvement seen by expanding surveillance from chest x-ray to follow-up with PET-CT scan after surgery for patients with&nbsp;early-stage non&ndash;small cell lung cancer, according to data reported during the 2017 ESMO Congress.

According to findings presented at the 2017 ESMO Congress,&nbsp;nab-paclitaxel monotherapy demonstrated efficacy in patients with pretreated advanced nonsquamous&nbsp;non&ndash;small cell lung cancer that is not improved by the addition of CC-486.&nbsp;

In patients with previously treated advanced non-small cell lung cancer,&nbsp;^&nbsp;superior progression-free survival was induced with continuous treatment with nivolumab until disease progression compared with a 1-year fixed duration treatment.

Joshua Bauml, MD, assistant professor, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, discusses the randomized phase III FLAURA study of frontline osimertinib (Tagrisso) in patients with EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer.