Dr. Hall on Combination Approaches in Advanced NSCLC

Richard D. Hall, MD, assistant professor, Hematology/Oncology, University of Virginia Health System, discusses combination approaches in advanced non—small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

One of the main themes following the 2018 AACR Annual Meeting and the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting is the use of combination therapies in patients with advanced NSCLC, says Hall. These include pembrolizumab (Keytruda) or atezolizumab (Tecentriq) in combination with standard chemotherapy.

The KEYNOTE-189 trial showed a significant improvement in overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) for treatment-naïve patients with stage IV NSCLC who are EGFR- and ALK-negative. Additionally, the KEYNOTE-407 trial showed a prolonged median OS in patients with squamous cell carcinoma in the frontline setting. Similarly, there was an improvement in OS and PFS in the IMpower150 trial, which looked at atezolizumab plus bevacizumab (Avastin), carboplatin, and paclitaxel versus chemotherapy alone. Finally, CheckMate-227 showed a benefit with the combination of ipilimumab (Yervoy) and nivolumab (Opdivo).

Combination therapies are defining the treatment paradigm of lung cancer, explains Hall, giving physicians more therapeutic options that reflect better outcomes.