Gaps in Lung Cancer Treatment Persist, Yale Study Finds
“In recent decades, lung cancer treatment has been transformed—new surgeries, new radiation techniques, and dramatically improved outcomes. But according to new research from Yale, published in JAMA Network Open, one thing has barely changed: who receives curative care.”
FDA approves HERNEXEOS®, the first targeted therapy for adults with HER2-mutant advanced NSCLC as an initial treatment option
“HERNEXEOS® (zongertinib tablets) approved based on an objective response rate of 76% (N=72) as demonstrated in the Beamion LUNG-1 clinical trial. Accelerated approval follows Breakthrough Therapy Designation and prior FDA approval for previously treated patients in August 2025”
New study identifies growth hormone receptor as possible target to improve lung cancer treatment
“Researchers at Ohio University have discovered what may be a new way to fight lung cancer that is resistant to other treatments. The study, led by Goll-Ohio Eminent Scholar and distinguished professor John J. Kopchick, Ph.D., and his graduate student Arshad Ahmad at the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, found that blocking the growth hormone receptor may help make lung cancer treatments more effective.”
AI tool could help predict side effects from lung cancer treatment
“The study, published in Reports of Practical Oncology and Radiotherapy, focuses on the lung’s natural subunits, called lobes. Rather than treating the lung as a single organ, researchers have found that the radiation dose administered to specific lobes matters. Damage to certain lobes, particularly the lower ones, raises the risk of lung toxicity and side effects.”
Gut Microbiome as a Predictor of Dual Checkpoint Inhibition Benefit in Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
“Dual immune checkpoint inhibition with ipilimumab plus nivolumab (I–N) represents an established therapeutic strategy for advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), capable of producing durable responses even in tumors with low PD-L1 expression. However, clinical benefit remains restricted to a subset of patients, and the optimal integration of chemotherapy into dual immunotherapy regimens continues to represent a major unresolved clinical challenge.”
Do the “oldest old” non-small cell lung cancer patients experience the worst outcomes after radiotherapy?
“Conclusion: Patients with NSCLC aged >=80 years show no statistically significant differences in terms of faring even better after receiving radiotherapy for NSCLC with their younger counterparts. However, older patients with NSCLC had a trend of higher rates of severe thrombocytopenia and longer progression-free survival than younger patients with NSCLC. We could not verify our hypothesis; however, curative lung radiotherapy can be an effective and safe treatment for patients aged >=80 years.”
Lung Cancer Research Foundation Launches Small Cell Lung Cancer Grants in Collaboration with AstraZeneca
“NEW YORK, Feb. 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) announces a new research collaboration with AstraZeneca aimed at driving progress in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with two grant awards, 2026 LCRF | AstraZeneca Research Award on Strategies Towards Improving the Treatment of Small Cell Lung Cancer and 2026 LCRF | AstraZeneca Research Award on Strategies Using Patient Advocacy to Improve Outcomes in Small Cell Lung Cancer.”
ACS Report Shows 5-Year Survival for All Cancers Combined Has Reached 70%
“New data published by Siegel et al in the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) Cancer Statistics, 2026 report show that, for the first time, the 5-year survival rate for all cancers combined has reached 70% for individuals diagnosed during 2015 to 2021 in the United States. In addition, those diagnosed with high-mortality cancers and advanced diagnoses experienced the largest gains in survival. Still, in the United States, cancer remains the second-leading cause of death overall and the leading cause of death among those younger than age 85.”
Explainable active reinforcement deep learning improves lung cancer detection from CT images
“Lung cancer remains a global health challenge that requires early and accurate diagnosis through medical imaging analysis. This study introduces ARXAF-Net framework which integrates Active Reinforcement deep leaning with strategic feature engineering, selection, advanced classification techniques with Explainable AI.”
Air pollution and lung cancer: an investigation of county-level residual incidence rates with smoking eliminated
“Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer and this can make it difficult to focus public attention on other preventable causes, like air pollution. To provide easily understandable quantitative information on the relative importance of smoking and air pollution as contributors to lung cancer, we used a two-stage regression method to simulate what would happen to county-level lung cancer rates if smoking were completely eliminated.”
FDA Grants Second Approval under the National Priority Voucher Pilot Program
“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today issued an approval for the lung cancer drug Hernexeos (zongertinib) as a part of the new Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher (CNPV) pilot program. In the clinical trial data submitted to the agency, a remarkable 76% of previously untreated patients had a substantial decrease in tumor size, representing a significant improvement from the current standard of care whereby 30-45% of patients are typically expected to demonstrate this response.”
Why Lung Cancer Patients Feel Worse at Night: Sleep, Anxiety and Breathing Explained
“Night changes the perceptual landscape of illness. During the day, lung cancer patients are embedded in structure: appointments, imaging, multidisciplinary discussions, treatment planning. Cognitive bandwidth is occupied. Clinical reassurance is accessible. At night, this scaffolding dissolves. What remains is interoception — the awareness of internal bodily signals — and unmoderated cognition.”
How EPA’s New Rollbacks Could Fuel Toxic Pollution Nationwide
“Two years ago, we celebrated a huge victory for public health when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced stronger rules to clean up power plant pollution. Unfortunately, since then the regulatory landscape has changed dramatically, with drastic consequences for air quality and lung health.”
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Examining Equity Gaps in Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Trials for NSCLC
“Key Takeaways: Persistent underrepresentation of women, older adults, and Black patients in NSCLC immune checkpoint inhibitor trials limits the generalizability of evidence used to guide clinical decision-making. Disparities in trial enrollment may mask clinically meaningful differences in immunotherapy response and survival across age, sex, and racial groups. Improving equitable trial access, community engagement, and diversity among clinical investigators is essential to ensure NSCLC treatment guidelines reflect real-world patient populations.”
Nivolumab plus ipilimumab with chemotherapy as first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer: final, 6-year outcomes from CheckMate 9LA
“This analysis highlights the durability of first-line nivolumab plus ipilimumab with limited chemotherapy in metastatic NSCLC, demonstrating sustained overall survival and long-term response across PD-L1 expression levels and histologies. The findings reinforce that the survival benefit observed in CheckMate 9LA is maintained in broader clinical practice, including patients with traditionally poorer prognostic features such as PD-L1–negative and squamous disease.”
