Articles

On May 29, 2020, the FDA approved ramucirumab (Cyramza; Eli Lilly) in combination with erlotinib (Tarceva) for first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon 19 deletions or exon 21 (L858R) mutations. Ramucirumab was previously approved for several types of cancer, including, in combination with docetaxel, for metastatic NSCLC, after platinum-based chemotherapy.

On May 26, 2020, the FDA approved nivolumab (Opdivo; BMS) and ipilimumab (Yervoy; BMS) plus chemotherapy as first-line treatment of recurrent or metastatic squamous or nonsquamous non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), regardless of PD-L1 expression, and with no EGFR or ALK aberrations. On May 15, the FDA approved nivolumab plus ipilimumab as first-line treatment of metastatic NSCLC with PD-L1 ≥1% expression.

On May 29, 2020, the FDA approved the immunotherapy atezolizumab (Tecentriq; Genentech), a PD-L1 inhibitor, in combination with bevacizumab (Avastin; Genentech), a vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitor, for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who have not received systemic therapy. This is the first immunotherapy regimen approved by the FDA for this type of HCC.

The COVID-19 pandemic will have far-reaching economic implications in the United States and abroad for the foreseeable future. During this session Murray Aitken, MBA, Director, IQVIA Institute, presented emerging data regarding some of the ways in which the pandemic is affecting the US economy.

Burt Zweigenhaft, PhD, D.Litt, Founder, Association for Value-Based Cancer Care, moderated a panel session in which 3 experts from the independent actuarial firm, Milliman, discussed recent data showing the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic may affect the future of healthcare.

Immune-related adverse events did not affect the clinical benefit of consolidation checkpoint inhibitor therapy after chemoradiation in stage III non–small-cell lung cancer.

The frequency and durability of outcomes associated with acquired resistance to PD-1 inhibition in non–small-cell lung cancer are presented.

The characteristics of long-term responders to PD-1 blockade are presented.

For oncologists and others who advocate for smoking cessation, it is important to know whether recent quitters who are diagnosed with lung cancer can achieve a survival benefit.