“Key Points: Although lung cancer is now the leading cause of cancer-related mortality both in the United States and globally, as few as 15% to 20% of currently eligible individuals are getting screened for lung cancer. A large cohort study from the Veterans Health Administration database showed that a new lung cancer screening metric centering on tobacco smoking duration (TSD) decreases potentially missed cancers. Changing the criteria also expanded the number of eligible former smokers who qualified for lung cancer screening, especially among underrepresented subgroups, such as female veterans, Black veterans, and Hispanic and Latino veterans.”
Adjuvant Nivolumab vs Observation in Resected Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
“Adjuvant nivolumab did not reduce the risk of disease recurrence in patients with resected NSCLC who completed planned standard care adjuvant therapy.”
ASCO26: key readouts in lung cancer
“With several targeted therapies in the pipeline for subtypes under the wider lung cancer umbrella, there has already been a huge influx of fascinating readouts from the event. Pharmaceutical Technology gives you the highlights, with readouts from key players like Johnson & Johnson (J&J), Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) and more.”
Updates in Small Cell Lung Cancer Treatment: No Longer Too Small to Ignore—A Review of Recent Therapeutic Advances
“In this study, we review the current landscape of both systemic therapy as well as radiation therapy for SCLC, with a focus on major developments over the past decade, current standards of care, and novel therapeutics that are expected to revolutionize the treatment of this aggressive malignancy.”
A blood signature for lung cancer risk: 14 proteins identified that may help people who could benefit from cancer prevention drugs
“Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and University College London (UCL), funded by Cancer Research UK and the European Research Council (ERC), have identified a 14-protein signature in blood that is associated with an increased risk of developing lung cancer more than five years before diagnosis. By combining this protein signature with knowledge of how inflammation triggers cancers, the team could identify people at higher risk who would benefit from drugs to stop lung cancer taking hold, a major step towards precision cancer prevention.”
Resistance to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Treatment in Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer Clinical Trials: A Perspective From Lung-MAP Investigators
“The Lung Master Protocol (Lung-MAP) has been focusing on evaluating novel therapeutics for previously treated advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) since 2014. Lung-MAP’s initial studies of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) were for immune therapy-naïve disease. As standard of care changed to include ICI alone or in combination with chemotherapy for first-line advanced NSCLC, Lung-MAP changed its focus to evaluating novel therapies for advanced NSCLC previously treated with ICI and chemotherapy.”
New breakthrough in developing more personalized treatments for lung cancer
“A study by the University of Barcelona has discovered why the two main types of lung cancer—adenocarcinoma of the lung and squamous cell carcinoma—respond differently to anti-angiogenic therapy, that is, drugs that block the formation of new blood vessels that tumors need in order to grow.”
Pumitamig Shows 70% Response in Advanced Lung Cancer Regardless of PD-L1 Status
“Key Takeaways: Dual PD-L1 and VEGF-A blockade with pumitamig plus chemotherapy yielded a 70% overall response rate and 100% disease control in evaluable first-line advanced NSCLC without actionable alterations. Clinically notable activity was observed in PD-L1–low tumors (<1%), suggesting potential benefit beyond populations most responsive to PD-1/PD-L1 monotherapy-based regimens.”
Lung Cancer Disparities in the United States: The Role of Smoking, Comorbidities, Socioeconomic Status, and Regional Variation
“Conclusions: Significant racial and regional disparities exist in lung cancer burden and hospital outcomes. Targeted interventions addressing socioeconomic barriers, screening inequities, and comorbidity management are needed to reduce these disparities.”
Personal and Family History of Cancer and Primary Lung Cancer Prevalence Among Never Smoking Disaggregated Asian American Women
“The rise in the prevalence of primary lung cancer in never-smoking Asian American women compared to their Non-Hispanic White (NHW) counterparts suggests additional factors associated with prevalence (personal or family history of cancer) in this demographic. However, the aggregation of a large, diverse group of Asian Americans often obscures the heterogeneity and specific factors associated with prevalence in a certain ethnicity. In this study, we analyzed the association of having a family or personal history of cancer to explain the high prevalence of lung cancer in disaggregated Asian Americans (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino, and Other Asian). We found that Korean women with a personal history of any cancer and Chinese women with a family history of any cancer have a higher prevalence of primary lung cancer compared to their NHW counterparts. Our findings call for history-informed and ethnic-specific lung cancer screenings to identify higher-prevalence subgroups.”
Sunvozertinib in NSCLC With EGFR Exon 20 Insertion Mutations
“As reported at the 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting and in The New England Journal of Medicine by Zhou et al, the phase III WU-KONG28 trial has shown that first-line sunvozertinib improved progression-free survival vs chemotherapy in patients with advanced nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations.”
Effect of Structured Perioperative Education on Postoperative Pain Following Lung Cancer Surgery: A Prospective Non-randomized Interventional Study With 12-Month Follow-Up
“Conclusion: Structured perioperative education was associated with improved postoperative pain outcomes following lung cancer surgery. Educational interventions incorporating caregiver involvement and reinforcement during the early postoperative period may represent a feasible and low-risk supportive strategy to improve postoperative recovery and pain management in patients undergoing thoracic surgery. Further randomized multicenter studies are warranted to confirm these findings.”
Real-world outcomes of immunotherapy in advanced NSCLC patients with comorbidities
“Conclusions: Survival among patients with comorbidities improved following ICI introduction, however the benefit varied by comorbidity and treatment modality, supporting more individualised treatment strategies.”
Video:
Joel W. Neal, MD, PhD, on the CHRYSALIS-2 Study in Atypical EGFR-Mutated Advanced NSCLC
“Joel W. Neal, MD, PhD, of Stanford Cancer Institute, discusses updated overall survival data from cohort C of the CHRYSALIS-2 trial, which looked at first-line amivantamab plus lazertinib in previously untreated patients with atypical EGFR-mutated advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (Abstract 8501)”
