Lung Cancer Research Results and Study Updates
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Zenocutuzumab Approved to Treat Lung and Pancreatic Cancers with Rare Genetic Change
FDA has approved zenocutuzumab (Bizengri) to treat people with pancreatic or non-small cell lung cancer whose tumors have a rare genetic alteration called an NRG1 fusion. The approval is based on a clinical trial in which the drug shrank tumors in a third of patients.
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Intensive Program Helps People Being Screened for Lung Cancer Quit Smoking
Results from a large NCI-funded clinical trial show that a comprehensive program that integrates intensive counseling and cessation medications may be a particularly effective way to help smokers being screened for lung cancer quit.
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Study Aims to Reduce Lung Cancer Stigma by Teaching Health Professionals Empathy
Researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center have developed a training program to help health providers reduce lung cancer stigma. In this interview, they discuss an ongoing NCI-funded nationwide clinical trial to test the training.
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Delivering Palliative Care by Telehealth Meets the Needs of People with Cancer
In a study of people with advanced lung cancer, palliative care delivered via telehealth was just as effective at improving patients’ quality of life and other measures of well-being as care delivered in person.
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Lorlatinib Slows Growth of ALK-Positive Lung Cancers, May Prevent Brain Metastases
Lorlatinib (Lorbrena) is superior to crizotinib (Xalkori) as an initial treatment for people with ALK-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer, according to new clinical trial results. Treatment with lorlatinib also helped prevent new brain metastases.
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Durvalumab Extends Lives of People with Early-Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer
The immunotherapy drug durvalumab (Imfinzi) can help people with early-stage small cell lung cancer live longer, results from a large clinical trial show. Three years after starting treatment, nearly 60% of people who received the drug were still alive.
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Alectinib Approved as an Adjuvant Treatment for Lung Cancer
FDA has approved alectinib (Alecensa) as adjuvant therapy for people with lung cancer who have ALK-positive tumors. In a clinical trial, alectinib helped people live longer after surgery without their cancer returning than chemotherapy.
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Repotrectinib Expands Treatment Options for Lung Cancers with ROS1 Fusions
The results of the clinical trial that led to FDA’s 2023 approval of repotrectinib (Augtyro) for lung cancers with ROS1 fusions have been published. The drug shrank tumors in 80% of people receiving the drug as an initial treatment.
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The ALCHEMIST Lung Cancer Trials
A collection of material about the ALCHEMIST lung cancer trials that will examine tumor tissue from patients with certain types of early-stage, completely resected non-small cell lung cancer for gene mutations in the EGFR and ALK genes, and assign patients with these gene mutations to treatment trials testing post-surgical use of drugs targeted against these mutations.
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Tarlatamab Shows Promise for Some People with Small Cell Lung Cancer
Tarlatamab, a new type of targeted immunotherapy, shrank small cell lung cancer (SCLC) tumors in more than 30% of participants in an early-stage clinical trial. Participants had SCLC that had progressed after previous treatments with other drugs.
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Selpercatinib Slows Progression of RET-Positive Lung, Medullary Thyroid Cancers
For people with lung cancer and medullary thyroid cancer whose tumors have changes in the RET gene, selpercatinib improved progression-free survival compared with other common treatments, according to new clinical trial results.
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Lung Cancer Trial of Osimertinib Draws Praise—and Some Criticism
In the ADAURA clinical trial, people with early-stage lung cancer treated with osimertinib (Tagrisso) after surgery lived longer than people treated with a placebo after surgery. Despite some criticisms about its design, the trial is expected to change patient care.
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Lung-Sparing Surgery Is Effective for Some with Early-Stage Lung Cancer
For certain people with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer, sublobar surgery to remove only a piece of the affected lung lobe is as effective as surgery to remove the whole lobe, new research shows.
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Pragmatica-Lung Cancer Treatment Trial
Pragmatica-Lung is a clinical trial for people with non-small cell lung cancer that has spread beyond the lungs (stage 4 cancer). The trial will help confirm if the combination of pembrolizumab and ramucirumab helps people with advanced lung cancer live longer.
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Enhertu Marks First Targeted Therapy for HER2-Mutant Lung Cancer
On August 11, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave accelerated approval to trastuzumab deruxtecan (Enhertu) for adults with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that has a specific mutation in the HER2 gene. Around 3% of people with NSCLC have this kind of HER2 mutation.
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For Early-Stage Lung Cancer, Nivolumab and Chemo before Surgery Proves Effective
Giving people with early-stage lung cancer the immunotherapy drug nivolumab (Opdivo) and chemotherapy before surgery can substantially delay the progression or return of their cancer, a large clinical trial found.
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Adjuvant Immunotherapy Approved for Some Patients with Lung Cancer
Atezolizumab (Tecentriq) is now the first immunotherapy approved by FDA for use as an additional, or adjuvant, treatment for some patients with non-small cell lung cancer. The approval was based on results of a clinical trial called IMpower010.
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Quitting Smoking Improves Survival in People with Lung Cancer
Quitting smoking after a diagnosis of early-stage lung cancer may help people live longer, a new study finds. The study, which included more than 500 patients, also found that quitting smoking delayed the cancer from returning or getting worse.
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NIH Study Illuminates Origins of Lung Cancer in Never Smokers
NCI scientists and their international collaborators have found that the majority of lung cancers in never smokers arise when mutations caused by natural processes in the body accumulate. They also identified three subtypes of lung cancer these individuals.
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FDA Approval of KRAS Inhibitor Sotorasib for Lung Cancer Hailed as Milestone
FDA has approved the first KRAS-blocking drug, sotorasib (Lumakras). The approval, which covers the use of sotorasib to treat some patients with advanced lung cancer, sets the stage for other KRAS inhibitors already in development, researchers said.
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Topotecan–Berzosertib Combination Shows Promise against Small Cell Lung Cancer
Combining the chemotherapy drug topotecan and the investigational drug berzosertib shrank tumors in some patients with small cell lung cancer, results from an NCI-supported phase 1 clinical trial show. Two phase 2 trials of the combination are planned.
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New treatments spur sharp reduction in lung cancer mortality rate
Mortality rates from the most common lung cancer, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), have fallen sharply in the United States in recent years, due primarily to recent advances in treatment, an NCI study shows.
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Study Links Mental Health Treatment to Improved Cancer Survival
In a study of more than 50,000 veterans with lung cancer, those with mental illness who received mental health treatment—including for substance use—lived substantially longer than those who didn’t participate in such programs.
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Selpercatinib Approved for Thyroid and Lung Cancers with RET Gene Alterations
FDA has granted accelerated approval for selpercatinib (Retevmo) to treat certain patients with thyroid cancer or non-small cell lung cancer whose tumors have RET gene alterations. The drug, which works by blocking the activity of RET proteins, was approved based on the results of the LIBRETTO-001 trial.
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Osimertinib Improves Survival in Advanced Lung Cancer with EGFR Mutations
Osimertinib (Tagrisso) improves survival in people with non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR mutations, updated clinical trial results show. People treated with osimertinib lived longer than those treated with earlier-generation EGFR-targeted drugs.
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Durvalumab Plus Chemotherapy Improves Survival in Small Cell Lung Cancer
A large clinical trial showed that adding the immunotherapy drug durvalumab (Imfinzi) to standard chemotherapy can prolong survival in some people with previously untreated advanced small cell lung cancer.
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Selpercatinib Shows Promise against Lung Cancers with Alterations in RET Gene
The investigational drug selpercatinib may benefit patients with lung cancer whose tumors have alterations in the RET gene, including fusions with other genes, according to results from a small clinical trial.
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FDA Approves Entrectinib Based on Tumor Genetics Rather Than Cancer Type
FDA has approved entrectinib (Rozlytrek) for the treatment of children and adults with tumors bearing an NTRK gene fusion. The approval also covers adults with non-small cell lung cancer harboring a ROS1 gene fusion.
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Study Suggests Reviewing Lung Cancer Screening Criteria for African Americans
Clinical recommendations on who should be screened for lung cancer may need to be reviewed when it comes to African Americans who smoke, findings from a new study suggest.
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Multipronged Approach Eliminates Racial Disparities in Early-Stage Lung Cancer Treatment
Use of a multipronged approach within hospitals, including community centers, not only eliminated treatment disparities among black and white patients with early-stage lung cancer, it also improved treatment rates for all patients, results from a new study show.
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After Lung Cancer Screening, Follow-Up Procedures May Be Riskier than Thought
In everyday medical care, there may be more complications from invasive diagnostic procedures performed after lung cancer screening than has been reported in large studies.
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Lung-MAP: Master Protocol for Lung Cancer
The Lung Cancer Master Protocol, or Lung-MAP, is a precision medicine research study for people with advanced non-small cell lung cancer that has continued to grow after treatment. Patients are assigned to different study drug combinations based on the results of genomic profiling of their tumors.
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Atezolizumab Approved for Initial Treatment of Metastatic Lung Cancer
On December 6, 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved atezolizumab (Tecentriq) in combination with a standard three-drug regimen as an initial treatment for advanced lung cancer that does not have EGFR or ALK mutations.
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For Early-Stage Lung Cancer, Study Identifies Potential New Biomarker, Treatment Target
A new study has identified a potential biomarker of early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The biomarker, the study’s leaders said, could help diagnose precancerous lung growths and early-stage lung cancers noninvasively and distinguish them from noncancerous growths.