Availability of next-generation sequencing continues to improve, but current technology cannot speed turnaround time of results. Posted: February 2018 The standard of care for all patients diagnosed with advanced nonsquamous NSCLC is to undergo genetic testing at diagnosis. “We now know that close to half of all patients with nonsquamous NSCLC will have an oncogenic…

Posted: December 2017 Experts in molecular testing discussed various issues on this topic in October at the IASLC 18th WCLC. Neal Lindeman, MD, led off the session with an overview of the update to the College of American Pathologists (CAP), International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), and the Association for Molecular Pathology…

By Christian Rolfo, MD, PhD, MBAh, and Philip C. Mack, PhD Posted: December 2017 In just the past decade, tremendous advancements in the treatment of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have been made due to the identification of targetable oncogenic molecular drivers on which the tumors are dependent for their growth and survival. Precision…

By Jason K. Molitoris, MD, PhD, Anthony D. Nehlsen, MD, and Minesh P. Mehta, MD Posted: October 2017 Up to 40% of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) will develop brain metastases (BM); this contributes significantly to decrement in survival and quality of life. Optimal BM treatment in patients with targetable rearrangements in…

By Mohamed Rahouma, MD, Mohamed Kamel, MD, and Jeffrey L. Port, MD A cancer diagnosis can be overwhelming, especially if someone has limited social support. Previous international reports have indicated that the distress associated with a cancer diagnosis could lead to a higher suicide rate. This was evident in respiratory and breast cancers in Denmark,1…

Posted: June 2017 Despite very encouraging progress in the development and use of immunotherapy for patients with non-small cell lung cancer, much confusion remains regarding patient selection for each therapy. Programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) protein expression, as detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC) testing, has been widely used as a predictive biomarker assay for anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapies.…

Posted: June 2017 For the past 40 years the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer has remained the only society exclusively dedicated to the study and treatment of lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies. These cancers are notoriously complicated, as was recently pointed out by their mutational burdens and histologic heterogeneity. New discoveries,…

Posted: April 2017 By Giorgio Vittorio Scagliotti, MD, PhD The ambition to personalize medicine is intrinsic to the mission of every individual physician with the twin goals of reducing drug-related toxic effects and improving treatment efficacy. Hippocrates first proposed a combined assessment of the 4 humors—blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile—to determine the best…

Posted: February 2017 By Cynthia L. Kryder, MS Clinical trials are essential to the development of new, potentially lifesaving therapies for patients with cancer. Well-designed clinical trials contribute to medical advances and evidence-based medicine. Nevertheless, the Cancer Research Institute estimates that only 3% to 6% of patients with cancer who are eligible for clinical trials…

Posted: February 2017 By Caicun Zhou, MD As part of an ongoing series, IASLC Lung Cancer News is exploring how drug approval processes differ country by country, and continent by continent. In China, the drug registration process includes the following steps: • Application to the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) for clinical trial approval,…