Tackling the Biggest Challenges in Cancer

Cancer Grand Challenges is a partnership between Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which funds global teams of leading researchers across various scientific disciplines to tackle some of the toughest challenges in cancer research. As Dinah Singer, Acting Director of NCI’s Center for Strategic Scientific Initiatives says, “Cancer research is a global endeavor.” As LUNGevity’s Vice President of Global Engagement and Patient Partnerships, I recently attended the Cancer Grand Challenges (CGC) Summit March 8-10, 2023 in London. The CGC Summit featured an action

Real-World Drug Development at the Targeted Therapies of Lung Cancer Meeting

The development of new treatments for any disease relies on the collaborative efforts of many different stakeholders, such as scientists, clinicians, patient advocacy groups, regulators, and pharmaceutical and biotech companies. During scientific conferences that happen throughout the year, stakeholders cobble together opportunities to discuss the current state of treatments and strategize ways to bring emerging lifesaving treatments to patients. Each year, there is one key conference dedicated to bringing these stakeholders together with the sole goal of discussing the development of

An Introduction to Squamous Cell Lung Cancer

Lung squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC), also called squamous cell lung cancer, is one of the major subtypes of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Fifty years ago, LSCC was the most common lung cancer diagnosis. LSCC was considered the classic smoker’s lung cancer, as most patients with LSCC had a history of smoking cigarettes. Today, the incidence of LSCC depends on where you live. In areas with decreasing smoking rates, we’ve also seen a reduction in the number of LSCC diagnoses. Overall, while lung adenocarcinoma is now the most common type of NSCLC in the US, approximately 15-30% of lung

Science Spotlight: NSCLC Transformation into SCLC

Take a behind-the-scenes look at how researchers study lung cancer. Join lung cancer researcher Triparna Sen, PhD, as she digs into what’s known about how EGFR-positive NSCLC cells transform into SCLC to escape targeted therapy treatment. SCLC transformation is a common resistance mechanism for multiple types of NSCLC, including EGFR, ALK, and RET. This Facebook Live event is hosted by Amy Moore, PhD, LUNGevity’s Vice President of Global Engagements and Patient Partnerships. Dr. Sen is Co-Director of the Lung Cancer PDX Platform at the Center for Thoracic Oncology, Icahn School of Medicine at

We're Live-Tweeting from ASCO June 3-7!

LUNGevity’s Dr. Upal Basu Roy and Dr. Amy Moore will be live-tweeting from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting. Follow LUNGevity on Twitter and the hashtags #ASCO22 and #LCSM to be a part of the action. Times and topics of live-tweeted sessions are as follows: Fri, Jun 3, 2022 | 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM EDT | Lung Cancer—Non-Small Cell Metastatic Sun, Jun 5, 2022 | 9:00 AM – 10:15 AM EDT | Treatment Sequencing in Resectable Lung Cancer: The Good and the Bad of Adjuvant Versus Neoadjuvant Therapy Sun, Jun 5, 2022 | 10:45 AM – 1:45 PM EDT | Lung Cancer—Non-Small Cell Local

Lung Cancer Treatment Landscape: New Options and Ongoing Challenges

Drs. Upal Basu Roy, Amy Moore, and Dhru Deb discuss their recent publication in which they presented an analysis of the lung cancer drug pipeline. They talk about what it means for patients, new drugs under development for NSCLC and SCLC, and some of the ongoing challenges and opportunities this rapid growth means for the lung cancer community.

Discovering a New Approach to Treat Metastatic NSCLC

Lung cancer continues to be the number-one cause of cancer deaths in the United States. In the past decade, we have seen great improvements in the treatment of metastatic lung cancer with targeted therapies and immunotherapy. “When targeted therapies aren’t an option, the current standard of care for patients is immunotherapy alone or in combination with chemotherapy. But many patients don’t respond to these treatments the way we’d like them to,” said Sean Pitroda, MD, assistant professor of Radiation and Cellular Oncology at the University of Chicago. “Our standard treatments do improve

New Options in Adjuvant Therapy for Early-Stage NSCLC

Historically, surgery has been the most effective treatment for patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). While technological improvements, such as the development of minimally invasive techniques (such as video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery or VATS), have made surgeries safer for patients, the ability to cure early-stage NSCLC patients hasn’t improved significantly in recent decades. Even after successful surgeries that completely remove the visible tumor, about half of these patients will face a recurrence with their cancer coming back within five years. Researchers have

Highlights of the 2022 AACR meeting

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2022 meeting was held in New Orleans from April 9 to 13. Doctors and researchers worldwide joined together virtually and in person to make this year’s meeting one of the largest gatherings since the start of the pandemic. They shared the many exciting developments in cancer research and treatment that emerged over the last year. This year’s meeting is another testament to “Science doesn’t stop, and scientists never sleep!” Here, we discuss some of the major highlights of the meeting. Cancer Interception and Early Detection: A major theme at