Dr Sen on the Role of Immunotherapy in SCLC

“Right now, the landscape is very fast changing. We have had 2 new positive trials, which were discussed at ASCO this year. One [of the notable] trials was IMforte, which looked at the combination of immunotherapy with lurbinectedin as a maintenance regimen for [patients with] SCLC.”

Triparna Sen, PhD, a professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at The Ohio State University, discussed the role of immunotherapy for the treatment of patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC).

The standard of care (SOC) for patients with SCLC has been immunotherapy, which has now moved into the consolidation setting, particularly in patients with limited-stage disease, Sen began. Specifically, patients receive durvalumab (Imfinzi) as consolidation therapy following chemoradiation, she explained. In the limited-stage SCLC setting, she noted that immunotherapy combined with a platinum doublet has been the SOC. Furthermore, patients with extensive-stage SCLC typically receive a platinum doublet in combination with atezolizumab (Tecentriq) or durvalumab before they are treated with maintenance immunotherapy, she added.

However, the treatment paradigm for patients with SCLC has seen drastic changes in recent years, Sen emphasized. At the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting, 2 notable trials have demonstrated a continued expansion of treatment options for patients with SCLC. The phase 3 IMforte trial (NCT05091567) evaluated the combination of maintenance lurbinectedin plus atezolizumab for the treatment of patients with extensive-stage SCLC, Sen continued. Based on the data, lurbinectedin could be a choice for maintenance therapy, she said. Notably, a new class of immunotherapy regimens are also becoming available, including the bispecific T-cell engager tarlatamab (Imdelltra), which links the immune cell to the tumor cell, she explained. Particularly in the metastatic setting, tarlatamab has shown robust benefits for patients with SCLC based on positive data from the phase 3 DeLLphi-304 trial (NCT05740566), which were also presented at ASCO, according to Sen. With immunotherapy available in all lines of therapy for patients with SCLC, tarlatamab will likely be used in the second-line setting, she concluded.