Dr. Papadimitrakopoulou on Importance of More Targeted Therapies in NSCLC

Vassiliki Papadimitrakopoulou, MD, professor, Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the need for more targeted therapies in non—small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

The treatment landscape for patients with NSCLC has become very complex, Papadimitrakopoulou says. The most important thing for thoracic oncologists is to develop new therapies that match the patient’s tumor. Physicians have had some success with certain genotypes, particularly with EGFR mutations, but there’s still a long way to go with other mutations. About 50% of patients with NSCLC don’t have driver mutations. Within the other 50% of patients, there are still a number of mutations that are not yet targetable, like KRAS, Papadimitrakopoulou says.

She adds that while immunotherapy has greatly improved outcomes for these patients, there still isn’t a good enough biomarker predictive of response to these treatment options.