ASCO 2015 Highlights

Women with clinicopathologic high-risk breast cancer had nearly a 50% reduction in prescription chemotherapy, with no increased risk for metastatic recurrence when a cancer gene-based assay was used to guide treatment decision-­making, according to new data presented at the 2016 American Association for Cancer Research meeting.

The third-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), osimertinib (Tagrisso) targetsEGFR mutations, including T790M. Osimertinib was approved by the FDA in November 2015 for the treatment of patients with metastatic non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and theT790M mutation whose disease progressed during or after EGFR TKI therapy.

Benjamin P. Levy, MD, reviews current and emerging roles for agents that target the VEGF axis in advanced non–small-cell lung cancer and expresses his belief that a lot of work needs to be done to define the optimal space for these drugs.

Benjamin P. Levy, MD, discusses the value in leveraging clinical trials to determine the potential of utilizing checkpoint inhibitors as single agent first line therapies and in combination with chemotherapy as a second line strategy.