Expert Discusses Community Adoption of Immunotherapy in Lung Cancer

Robert Coleman, MD, FACOG, FACS, chief scientific officer for US Oncology Research, supported by McKesson, and an oncologist with Texas Oncology, discussed how immunotherapy in lung cancer has been widely accepted and adopted in the community oncology setting.

According to Coleman, the MYLUNG program is meant to normalize the treatment and genetic testing options available for patients with newly diagnosed lung cancer. He says that research conducted in the past few years found that in 70% of cases where the 5 most common mutations were present, the mutation was unknown at the time the first treatment decision was made.

However, a recent study of his found that currently, within the US Oncology Network, something in known about mutations in 85% of cases at the time of the initial treatment decision. According to Coleman, the continued focus of the MYLUNG program is to innovate and expand testing opportunities.

0:08 | I do think that most of the physicians who treat lung cancer are basically up to speed or are participating in these trials. The knowledge gap there, I don't see that as huge. However, lung cancer isn't always taken care of by people that are key opinion leaders in lung cancer. And so, a strategy that is a focus of the MYLUNG program is to try to normalize the wide variance of quantitative molecular orientation for newly diagnosed patients. Over the last several years, there's been multiple publications that show for the 5 most common molecular alterations, the rate of essentially unknown, meaning that it was an unknown by the time the first decision was made, it was about 70%, a very high number. With the advancement of education, and in turnaround times for molecular testing, strategies to optimize the tissue journey, and patient education, these kinds of factors have now started to impact that and how much of that testing has been used for treatment.

What presented during ASCO this year is that within the US Oncology Network, those numbers are substantially reversed. Actually, we have a much higher rate of at least something known. Over 85% of the time, something is known at the time of the initial treatment decision. We're trying to expand not only that frequency, but also the comprehensive nature of that testing. The focus of the MYLUNG program is to continue to iterate and innovate opportunities to expand the testing type and rate for patients that are dealing with their first line of therapy.