Dr. Borghaei on the Current Landscape of Immunotherapy in NSCLC

Hossein Borghaei, DO, MS, chief, Division of Thoracic Medical Oncology, director, Lung Cancer Risk Assessment, associate professor, Department of Hematology/Oncology, Fox Chase Cancer Center, discusses the current landscape of immunotherapy in non—small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

The focus of immunotherapy has been in combination with chemotherapy, explains Borghaei. Physicians have seen exciting data in both NSCLC as well as in small cell lung cancer. Many checkpoint inhibitors, mostly PD-1/PD-L1 antibodies, have been combined with chemotherapy drugs. They are all showing pretty uniform responses regardless of which chemotherapy backbone is used.

Additionally, there have been some data with quadruplet therapies, but physicians have to be cautious as 4-drug regimens are not for everyone. Borghaei notes that he tends to use a chemotherapy backbone that is less toxic because adding more drugs to a regimen increases toxicity.