ILCN Lung Cancer News
ILCN Lung Cancer News


  • Statistical Design Flexibility Versus Optimism: The Example of KEYNOTE-604

    Statistical Design Flexibility Versus Optimism: The Example of KEYNOTE-604

    Urania Dafni, ScD, et al.
    Meeting News

    In the era of targeted treatments and immunotherapies, it is relatively common to address multiple questions in a single phase III clinical trial. These questions often involve using more than one primary endpoint (either co-primary or hierarchically tested), planning a number of interim analyses, and testing more than one experimental treatment and/or cohorts from different…


  • University of California, Davis, Thoracic Oncology Innovation Group to Again Host Latin American
            Oncologists for 3-Day Preceptorship 

    University of California, Davis, Thoracic Oncology Innovation Group to Again Host Latin American Oncologists for 3-Day Preceptorship 

    Meeting News

    David R. Gandara, MD, past-president of the IASLC and director of Thoracic Oncology and senior advisor, UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center (UCDCCC), has always had a passion for mentorship, largely as a means of giving back to others in appreciation for his own early-career mentorship. Through his activities in the IASLC, he has been engaged…


  • Cell-free RNA Affords Another Tool in Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Monitoring

    Cell-free RNA Affords Another Tool in Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Monitoring

    Meeting News

    Although cell-free DNA (cfDNA) has emerged as the favored nucleic acid to analyze in liquid biopsy samples, there are situations when this marker fails to provided necessary information. In such cases, cell-free RNA (cfRNA) might help fill the void.  “Evaluating RNA in liquid biopsies is important because it can be useful for diagnostic, treatment-prediction, or even prognostic purposes,” according to Luis Raez, MD, of the Memorial…


  • Supporting the Detection of Early-Stage Disease with Use of Biomarkers

    Supporting the Detection of Early-Stage Disease with Use of Biomarkers

    Meeting News

    The NELSON trial and the US National Lung Cancer Screening Trial (NLST) marked major advances in lung cancer by establishing that low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening of high-risk individuals is effective at catching the disease in early stages when curative approaches can be used, in turn reducing mortality by 20% to 40%.1,2 The wealth of circulating biomarkers now under investigation begs the question of whether mortality can be reduced further…


  • Leveraging ctDNA to Detect Minimal Residual Disease Following Surgery

    Leveraging ctDNA to Detect Minimal Residual Disease Following Surgery

    Meeting News

    Curative therapy remains elusive in early-stage NSCLC following surgical resection, sometimes even for patients with stage I disease. Adjuvant therapy can be of benefit, but only for a select few. As shown in the Lung Adjuvant Cisplatin Evaluation (LACE) meta-analysis, platinum doublet chemotherapy, the current standard of care following complete resection of stage II/III NSCLC, only improved 5-year survival by 5.4%.1  “There is clearly unmet…


  • ctDNA Offers a Window Into Emerging Mechanisms of Resistance to Targeted Therapy

    ctDNA Offers a Window Into Emerging Mechanisms of Resistance to Targeted Therapy

    Meeting News

    Targeted therapy has undoubtedly transformed the treatment landscape for metastatic NSCLC, with multiple agents now available to target seven different molecular drivers. In tandem with the growing treatment armamentarium, comprehensive molecular profiling has been critical in providing insight into the complexity of a patient’s disease and enabling precision treatment.  “Tremendous progress has been made, and I think we are really improving our ability to deliver targeted therapy based on improvements in…


  • Dr. Christian Rolfo Previews the New IASLC Consensus Statement on Liquid Biopsy

    Dr. Christian Rolfo Previews the New IASLC Consensus Statement on Liquid Biopsy

    Meeting News

    In his keynote address during the IASLC 2020 Hot Topic Meeting: Liquid Biopsy, co-chair Christian Rolfo, MD, PhD, MBA, provided an overview of the fastpaced evolution of liquid biopsy. In 2018, at the time of initial discussions, it was only used for treatment-naive patients for whom tissue biopsy was insufficient or after acquired resistance to first- or second-generation EGFR TKIs. Since then groundbreaking research articles…


  • FDA Perspectives on the Use of Liquid Biopsy in NSCLC

    FDA Perspectives on the Use of Liquid Biopsy in NSCLC

    Industry News & Regulatory Approvals, Meeting News

    The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recognizes the value of liquid biopsy in managing patients with cancer, and the agency is actively working to bring these assays to the clinic. Harpreet Singh, MD, Director of the Division of Oncology 2, shed light on past FDA efforts related to approval of liquid biopsy technologies as well as those currently underway.  “Liquid biopsies for cancer require close interaction between the oncologist…


  • Biopsy Options Create New Decision-making Points for Clinicians

    Biopsy Options Create New Decision-making Points for Clinicians

    Meeting News

    Understanding the differences in liquid biopsy approaches, as well as how they complement tissue, can be important to therapeutic selection and outcomes.


  • The RAMES Study: A New Strategy of Targeting Angiogenesis in Mesothelioma

    The RAMES Study: A New Strategy of Targeting Angiogenesis in Mesothelioma

    Federica Grosso, MD, et al.
    Meeting News

    At this year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology Virtual Meeting, the final results of the RAMES study were presented.1 RAMES was a prospective, placebo-controlled, phase II, randomized study in which patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) that progressed after platinum-based chemotherapy and pemetrexed were assigned to receive gemcitabine 1,000 mg/m2 on Days 1 and 8…