Top 5 Key Takeaways from the 2024 World Conference on Lung Cancer
Each year, the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer hosts the World Conference on Lung Cancer, the largest global meeting dedicated to advancements in lung cancer treatment. This year’s event took place last week in San Diego. Outcomes4Me was onsite, alongside more than 7,000 other clinicians and scientists who traveled to the conference from all around the world.
We’ve compiled some of the data, insights, and news affecting lung cancer patients announced at the conference. As a patient, staying informed of the latest research, developments, and treatments could influence your current care plan. Read more about the latest developments below.
But first, here’s a glossary of terms relevant to these studies:
- Neoadjuvant: treatment before surgery
- Adjuvant: treatment after surgery
- Perioperative: treatment before and after surgery
- Resectable lung cancer: lung cancer that can be removed through surgery
- Targeted therapy: cancer treatment that targets specific cancer cell molecules
- Immunotherapy: cancer treatments that stimulate an immune response
- Immune checkpoint inhibitor: a type of immunotherapy that treats cancer by blocking proteins that regulate the immune system
- Event-free survival: the period of time after a treatment without a recurrence, progression, complications, or death
- Safety profile: the type and severity of side effects associated with a drug
- Residual viable tumor: amount of cancer cells still present in your body after treatment
- Pathologic complete response: no sign of cancer after treatment
Ivonescimab cuts the risk of disease progression by almost half
The Phase III HARMONi-2 study, a China-only trial, found that immunotherapy ivonescimab reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 49% compared with pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in patients with previously untreated, PD-L1-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). There’s excitement that ivonescimab could represent a “practice-changing” treatment and a new standard of care in NSCLC; however, the study must be validated by global trials and is not imminently expected to receive FDA approval.
Combining durvalumab with chemotherapy to benefit NSCLC patients
Oncologists from MD Anderson demonstrated in the Phase II NeoCOAST-2 study that adding durvalumab (Imfinzi), which is an immune checkpoint inhibitor, to both neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy may benefit patients with early-stage, resectable NSCLC. The study’s authors noted that the combination of durvalumab with novel agents (treatments that specifically target tumor or cell abnormalities) “yields the highest rates of pathologic complete response among the tested regimens.” With promising results and a manageable safety profile, researchers are bullish that integrating targeted therapies into pre and post-surgery chemotherapy will have “enhanced clinical benefit.”
Demonstrating the value integrating immunotherapy into comprehensive early-stage NSCLC treatment
A patient-level data analysis of the Phase III CheckMate 77T trial vs. the Phase III CheckMate 816 trial found that perioperative treatment with the targeted therapy nivolumab (Opdivo), an immune checkpoint inhibitor, demonstrated an approximately 40% reduction in risk of disease recurrence or death after surgery compared with neoadjuvant nivolumab plus chemotherapy among patients with resectable NSCLC. For patients with early-stage NSCLC, this significant reduction in risk of recurrence is clinically meaningful and exciting as the perioperative approach was also found to have a manageable safety profile.
Event-free survival depends on amount of residual tumor
A new analysis of the KEYNOTE-671 study suggests that the degree of residual viable tumor (RVT) is correlated with poorer event-free survival (EFS). However, there are EFS benefits related to using pembrolizumab (Keytruda) to treat patients with more tumor left after pre-surgery treatment. The new analysis showed these patients have a greater reduction of tumor size under this regimen compared to a placebo. For patients with early-stage NSCLC, this supports the benefit of a perioperative regimen, combining neoadjuvant pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy and adjuvant pembrolizumab.
An option for atypical EGFR-mutated NSCLC
The FURTHER trial showed early, positive implications for treating patients with EGFR-mutated NSCLC that doesn’t present as “classical”. The study authors report that EGFR PACC mutations account for roughly 12% of NSCLC EGFR mutations. Patients with a PACC mutation may need a different treatment option than those with a classical EGFR mutation. This study sought to determine if furmonertinib (Ivesa), which is under review by the FDA for NSCLC with an EGFR exon 20 insertion mutation, could be used for PACC mutations as well. While further study is required, the research indicates furmonertinib demonstrates efficacy in a PACC-mutation environment as well. It’s important for NSCLC patients to ask their doctors to test their tumors for genomic mutations, such as EGFR, so they can identify the most effective treatment options.
If you have any questions about how these studies could influence your own care, please message our oncology nurse practitioner team via the Ask Outcomes4Me feature within our app.
