Non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) historically was treated with cytotoxic chemotherapy. But the emergence of checkpoint inhibitors and targeted therapies has dramatically improved response rates.
In this ReCAP, Dr Justin Gainor, from Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses how these treatment options are being used to prolong survival in NSCLC.
He explains how targeting specific driver mutations has shown median progression-free survival from 19 months with EGFR inhibitors such as Osimertinib to over 3 years with certain ALK inhibitors. Currently, there are 10 genetic alterations for which the US Food and Drug Administration has approved therapies.
Dr Gainor explains the importance of molecular testing to identify targetable mutations and points to the advantage of next-generation sequencing, which looks for multiple genetic alterations in a single assay. Current guidelines recommend that any patient with advanced NSCLC of nonsquamous histology should have broad molecular genotyping, ideally using multiplex next-generation sequencing.
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Cite this: Targeted Therapies for Advanced/Metastatic NSCLC - Medscape - Oct 06, 2022.
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