Dr. Garassino Discusses Recent Pivotal Immunotherapy Findings in NSCLC

Marina Chiara Garassino, MD, medical consultant, Medical Oncology Division, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, discusses some of the recent exciting results regarding immunotherapy in non—small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

In the last 3 years, the treatment paradigm of lung cancer evolved significantly, Garassino explains. For example, the phase III findings of the PACIFIC trial of the PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab (Imfinzi) were very impactful for patients with stage III NSCLC. Additionally, there were drugs approved in the first-line setting of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for patients with more than 50% of PD-L1 expression. Updated findings of the phase III KEYNOTE-024 trial showed that the median overall survival with pembrolizumab was 30.2 months versus 14.2 months with chemotherapy.

In the second-line setting, there is also nivolumab (Opdivo) and atezolizumab (Tecentriq) available. Ongoing trials are being conducted in the neoadjuvant and adjuvant setting, as well, she adds.