Dr. Gandara on Recent Advancements in Field of Lung Cancer

David R. Gandara, MD, director, Thoracic Oncology Program, professor, senior advisor to director, UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, UC Davis Health System, discusses the most recent—and significant—advancements in the field of lung cancer.

Over the last year, Gandara says the largest growth has been regarding immunotherapy agents. There have been several changes in the standard of care as well as positive findings from phase III trials. However, researchers are quickly learning that these therapies are not effective in all patients.

Further research needs to be done on biomarker testing for immunotherapy agents. PD-L1 testing is one way of identifying patients which, Gandara adds, will likely become the new standard of care in patients with non—small cell lung cancer. This would mark the first time in history that chemotherapy would not be the standard treatment for patients with advanced disease, he says.

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