Checkpoint Inhibitors Advance Standard of Care for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
Justin F. Gainor, MD, discusses the latest advancements with immune checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of patients with non—small cell lung cancer.
Justin F. Gainor, MD, director of the Center for Thoracic Cancers and Targeted Immunotherapy at Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses the latest advancements with immune checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Checkpoint inhibitors have transformed the management of advanced NSCLC, where the agents have been moved to earlier lines in the disease course, Gainor says. The first evidence to demonstrate benefit in this setting, which ultimately launched further evaluation, was thephase III PACIFIC trial. Patients with locally advanced NSCLC who completed the standard of care chemotherapy and radiation went on to receive a checkpoint inhibitor, durvalumab (Imfinzi), as consolidation therapy. This led to an improvement in both the progression-free survival and overall survival rates.
