Promising New Treatment Minimizes Negative Side Effects of Chemotherapy for Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients

Research conducted by Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute, LLC (FCS) recently confirmed the effectiveness of a new medication in protecting bone marrow of patients who receive chemotherapy for extensive-stage small cell lung cancer. This form of cancer, when cancer has spread beyond the lungs, represents 15 percent of lung cancer cases in the U.S.

FCS medical oncologist Lowell Hart, MD, FACP, discussed details of the study which he co-authored during a recent interview with The Villages Daily Sun. He and his team conducted clinical trials to further evaluate trilaciclib (Cosela™). The drug was approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration in 2021 to prevent small cell lung cancer patients from bone marrow suppression, one of the more serious side effects of chemotherapy.

While chemotherapy is known for saving lives by destroying cancer cells and preventing the growth of tumors, it can also harm healthy bone marrow and the production of red and white blood cells and platelets. The disruption of bone marrow function (known as bone marrow suppression) can lead to anemia, higher risk of infections, bleeding issues and more.

“Trilaciclib is given intravenously just before chemotherapy to basically put the bone marrow to sleep for a few hours while chemotherapy is in the body working,” Dr. Hart explains. This state of hibernation minimizes damage to the bone marrow and prevents the need to delay further treatments.

Dr. Hart believes trilaciclib may yield similar benefits for the treatment of triple negative breast cancer and colon cancer. “We think it may help cancer immunotherapy also, so that is being studied currently,” he notes.

These findings build on and confirm the outcome of clinical research previously conducted with FCS participation and published by the FCS co-authors in 2022 that determined that trilaciclib could potentially reduce chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression in patients with ES-SCLC.

Read the full Interview

For complete details on the research studies: Trilaciclib Effectiveness for Treatment of SCLC Confirmed