The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) hosts an annual meeting every spring where oncologists and other physicians, researchers, industry members, and advocacy organizations like GO2 come together to share and learn the latest and most exciting news on emerging science in the cancer field. While ASCO covers all cancer types, lung cancer was a major focus at this year’s conference.  

The Lung Cancer Living Room’s annual “Best of ASCO” discussion is one of GO2’s most watched episodes every year. This year, GO2 for Lung Cancer’s Chief Patient Officer, Danielle Hicks, was joined by Dr. Sarah Goldberg from Yale Cancer Center to discuss the most promising research presented at ASCO and what it may mean for the future of lung cancer care.  

Speakers: Sarah Goldberg, MD, MPH, Medical Oncologist and Chief of Thoracic Oncology, Yale Cancer Center; Danielle Hicks, Chief Patient Officer, GO2 for Lung Cancer 

Discussed in this episode:   

  • The hot topic ADAURA clinical trial results which showed that in EGFR-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with stage 1B to 3A lung cancer, the targeted therapy Tagrisso (osimertinib) given after surgery helped people to live longer and extend the time until their cancer came back.  
  • The Neotorch study examined perioperative immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy for patients with stage 3 NSCLC. That study, which used a new checkpoint inhibitor called Loqtorzi (torpalimab) is consistent with others that showed a potential benefit to adding immunotherapy to early-stage treatment.  
  • The Keynote-789 study indicated that giving the immunotherapy drug Keytruda (pembrolizumab) together with chemotherapy was not any better at treating targeted therapy-resistant EGFR+ lung cancer than chemotherapy alone, suggesting that most EGFR+ NSCLC benefits less from immunotherapy than other lung cancer types. 
  • The SYMPHONY study showed early data that some patients with EGFR+ NSCLC that had developed resistance to other EGFR targeted therapies may respond to a new EGFR targeted therapy currently called BLU-945.    
  • The EVEREST trial showed that the EGFR targeted therapy zorifertinib was more effective as a first treatment for EGFR+ NSCLC with brain metastasis than the already approved EGFR targeted therapies Iressa (gefitinib) and Tarceva (erlotinib).  
  • The WU-KONG6 trial showed promising data that some NSCLC with an EGFR exon 20 mutation may respond to the newer targeted therapy sunvozertinib after progression on other drugs.
  • The SCARLET trial showed high response rates of NSCLC with a KRAS G12C mutation to the already approved targeted therapy LUMAKRAS (sotorasib) given together with chemotherapy as a first treatment.
  • New data from the CodeBreaK 200 trial demonstrated that the KRAS G12C targeted therapy LUMAKRAS (sotorasib) had promising effectiveness in treating brain metastasis. 
  • The KontRASt-02 study showed early data that the new KRAS G12C inhibitor, JDQ443, may have promising activity in KRAS G12C-positive NSCLC that had previously been treated with chemotherapy and immunotherapy. 
  • Early results from the ongoing TRIDENT-1 trial which looks at the new ROS-1 targeted therapy repotrectinib indicated that it may have promising activity when treating ROS-1+ NSCLC, even with brain metastasis. 
  • New data from the PHAROS trial indicated that a combination of the BRAF targeted therapy BRAFTOVI (encorafenib) and the MEK targeted therapy MEKINIST (trametinib), showed positive results in treating NSCLC with a BRAF V600E mutation, especially as a first treatment, and may represent a new, additional treatment option for this type of lung cancer. 
  • A newer immunotherapy called toripalimab showed promising results, when given together with chemotherapy, as a first treatment for NSCLC without EGFR or ALK mutations in the CHOICE-01 trial and may represent an additional immunotherapy-based option for these patients. 
  • The Lunar trial showed that a new type of cancer therapy called tumor-treating fields, which are electrical fields believed to disrupt cancer cell growth given through a device worn by patients, given with other standard treatments improved outcomes, specifically in people with NSCLC that had received chemotherapy by itself as a first treatment. 

Please join us on August 15th at 5:30 pm PT/8:30 pm ET for the next Lung Cancer Living Room covering “The New Age of Small Cell Lung Cancer” with Dr. Jacob Sands from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. You can join us in our San Carlos, CA office or watch on YouTube Live.  

For more information on the Living Room, other GO2 for Lung Cancer programs, or for support through diagnosis and treatment, please contact GO2’s HelpLine at 1-800-298-2436 or email support@go2.org.