IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Celebrating 20 Years of Progress in Lung Cancer Research and Treatment

Celebrating 20 Years of Progress in Lung Cancer Research and Treatment

Read time: 5 minutes.This year marks 20 years since researchers made a key discovery that changed the face of lung cancer research and treatment. By uncovering EGFR’s role in lung cancer, researchers developed a new class of drugs—targeted therapies—designed to target specific mutations in lung cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed. As we’ve welcomed this era of precision medicine, we’ve also benefited from other treatment progress in lung cancer—including the development…

Brain Mets Basics for NSCLC: What Are Brain Metastases and How Do We Treat Them?

Brain Mets Basics for NSCLC: What Are Brain Metastases and How Do We Treat Them?

Read time: 2 minutes.  Brain metastases (also called brain mets) develop when cancer from somewhere else in the body spreads to the brain.  Over time, tumors can become metastatic (travel to other parts of the body). When lung cancer travels to the brain, it requires specialized treatments that can cross the blood-brain barrier. The blood-brain barrier is a tight network of blood vessels and tissue that allows some substances, such as oxygen and water, into the brain while…

Medscape Onsite: Riding the Wave of NSCLC Updates From San Diego

Medscape Onsite: Riding the Wave of NSCLC Updates From San Diego

Advanced ALK-Rearranged NSCLC

Advanced ALK-Rearranged NSCLC

Screening and Early Detection of Lung Cancer: Highlights from WCLC and ESMO 2024

Screening and Early Detection of Lung Cancer: Highlights from WCLC and ESMO 2024

Lung cancer screening and early detection were major topics of discussion at the World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC), held in San Diego from September 7-10, and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) conference in Barcelona from September 13-17. This fourth and final blog in our series of updates summarizes highlights from these discussions. You can read the other update blogs from these fall science meetings: Metastatic NSCLC Highlights  Small Cell Lung Cancer…

Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Highlights from WCLC and ESMO 2024

Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Highlights from WCLC and ESMO 2024

This year, the first three weeks of September were packed with lung cancer research updates at the World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) from September 7-10 in San Diego followed by the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) conference from September 13-17 in Barcelona.  We wish we could have cloned ourselves and been in both places; however, we were able to attend WCLC in person and ESMO virtually. It’s impossible to condense so much lung cancer science into a single blog, so…

Eating Healthy on the Mediterranean Diet

Eating Healthy on the Mediterranean Diet

Read time: 3 minutes.  Oncology dietitian Lori Bumbaco takes us on a culinary journey, exploring why experts consistently rank the Mediterranean diet as the number one choice for healthy eating. In addition to the studied health benefits, Lori highlights the unique foods and flavors that make this diet special and provides simple, practical tips on how to incorporate them into your daily meals. In the video below, Lori offers a firsthand look at how easy and enjoyable it can be…

Oncology expert reveals the impact of biomarker testing on the outcomes of targeted therapies for cancer

Oncology expert reveals the impact of biomarker testing on the outcomes of targeted therapies for cancer

Nuvalent boosts offering to $500M following promising NSCLC results

Nuvalent boosts offering to $500M following promising NSCLC results

NSCLC Biomarker Testing: Multidisciplinary Decisions and Timely Testing Are Key

NSCLC Biomarker Testing: Multidisciplinary Decisions and Timely Testing Are Key

Cancer-associated fibroblasts confer ALK inhibitor resistance in EML4-ALK-driven lung cancer via concurrent integrin and MET signaling

Cancer-associated fibroblasts confer ALK inhibitor resistance in EML4-ALK-driven lung cancer via concurrent integrin and MET signaling

How Do Drugs Get Approved (and Fast-Tracked) by the FDA?

How Do Drugs Get Approved (and Fast-Tracked) by the FDA?

Read time: 5 minutes.  This is Part 3 in our series on how drugs get approved to treat lung cancer.  Part 1: Understanding Clinical Trials - Why Are They Important for Drug Development? Part 2: How We Define Success for a Clinical Trial The United States federal government aims to regulate prescription drugs to ensure people are receiving medication that’s safe and effective. Every prescribed drug in the U.S. has gone through a rigorous testing process that can…

How We Define Success for a Clinical Trial

How We Define Success for a Clinical Trial

Read time: 6 minutes. This is Part 2 of 3 in our series on how drugs get approved to treat lung cancer. Make sure to read Part 1 on the phases of clinical trials and why they are important for new drug development. We all want a treatment for lung cancer that is completely safe and entirely effective. While researchers are working toward that goal, the reality is we aren’t there yet. Every treatment we are considering comes with potential benefits and side effects. The…

Understanding Clinical Trials: Why Are They Important for Drug Development?

Understanding Clinical Trials: Why Are They Important for Drug Development?

Read time: 3 minutes.This is Part 1 in a 3-part series explaining how new drugs and treatments get approved to treat lung cancer. Parts 2 and 3 will be published in the coming weeks.Have you ever wondered how a new medicine or drug to treat lung cancer is brought to the people who need it? That’s what clinical trials help us do.According to the National Cancer Institute, a clinical trial is a type of research study that tests how well new medical approaches (such as screening tests, prevention…

Role of Pulmonologists in Precision Medicine: Attitudes Towards Biomarker Testing for NSCLC

Role of Pulmonologists in Precision Medicine: Attitudes Towards Biomarker Testing for NSCLC

ALK-positive Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Pipeline Drugs 2024 | Nuvalent, Shouyao Holdings, Xuanzhu Biopharmaceutical, Fochon Pharmaceutical, and others.

ALK-positive Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Pipeline Drugs 2024 | Nuvalent, Shouyao Holdings, Xuanzhu Biopharmaceutical, Fochon Pharmaceutical, and others.

Twenty Lung Cancer Advocacy Organizations and 23andMe Come Together to Launch Lung Cancer Genetics Study to Help Advance Research

Twenty Lung Cancer Advocacy Organizations and 23andMe Come Together to Launch Lung Cancer Genetics Study to Help Advance Research

Countdown to ILCSC24: Bringing the World’s Experts Right to Your Living Room

Countdown to ILCSC24: Bringing the World’s Experts Right to Your Living Room

Read time: 3 minutes.  One of LUNGevity’s two flagship survivorship events, the International Lung Cancer Survivorship Conference (ILCSC), is being held virtually September 20 – 21, 2024. This is a free, online event that allows people with lung cancer and caregivers from around the world to join from the comfort of their own homes and hear from a star-studded lineup of lung cancer experts discussing the latest advances in research and treatment.  You can register today for…

FDA approves Roche’s Alecensa as the first adjuvant treatment for people with ALK-positive early-stage lung cancer

FDA approves Roche’s Alecensa as the first adjuvant treatment for people with ALK-positive early-stage lung cancer

Nuvalent To Present Updated Data For ROS1-Selective Inhibitor, Zidesamtinib, And ALK-Selective Inhibitor, NVL-655, At The ESMO Congress 2024

Nuvalent To Present Updated Data For ROS1-Selective Inhibitor, Zidesamtinib, And ALK-Selective Inhibitor, NVL-655, At The ESMO Congress 2024

Practice Updates in Lung Cancer Stem From Biomarker Testing and Up-Front Immunotherapy

Practice Updates in Lung Cancer Stem From Biomarker Testing and Up-Front Immunotherapy

Key Data Updates From ASCO May Advance the Treatment Landscapes of 3 Lung Cancer Subtypes

Key Data Updates From ASCO May Advance the Treatment Landscapes of 3 Lung Cancer Subtypes

How Can Patients and Researchers Design Clinical Trials Together?

How Can Patients and Researchers Design Clinical Trials Together?

Read time: 2 minutes.  Traditionally, people associate getting involved in lung cancer research with enrolling in a clinical trial. But most don’t realize they can also partner with researchers behind the scenes and get involved in designing clinical trials.  In the first of a three-part series, Rising Tide Foundation for Clinical Cancer Research has partnered with LUNGevity to understand the role people with lung cancer can play in developing clinical trials. Through panelist…

Lung Cancer Expert at ASCO: From Fatal to 'Chronic Disease'

Lung Cancer Expert at ASCO: From Fatal to 'Chronic Disease'

2024 ASCO: Highlights of Lung Cancer Research

2024 ASCO: Highlights of Lung Cancer Research

Read time: 8 minutesThousands of oncologists, scientists, biotech and pharmaceutical representatives, patients, and advocates (including LUNGevity staff) met to discuss lifesaving cancer research at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago from May 31 through June 4, 2024. The theme for this year’s conference, “The Art and Science of Cancer Care: From Comfort to Cure,” highlighted the importance of using both our creativity and our scientific…

Is Lung Cancer in Young Adults Hereditary?

Is Lung Cancer in Young Adults Hereditary?

Read time: 2 minutesThe question of whether lung cancer is hereditary is becoming increasingly important in the lung cancer community. While the average age of lung cancer diagnosis is approximately 70 years old, we are now seeing young adults in their 20s and 30s getting lung cancer.We currently suspect lung cancer in young adults may be caused by environmental factors (such as air pollution or chemical exposure), their genetic make-up, or some combination of these factors.We cannot say for…

Lung Cancer Was a Death Sentence. Now Drugs Are Saving Lives.

Lung Cancer Was a Death Sentence. Now Drugs Are Saving Lives.

Frank Sierawski: A New Meaning for Father’s Day

Frank Sierawski: A New Meaning for Father’s Day

Read time: 3 minutesIt’s been nearly a decade since Frank Sierawski was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer in his 30s. The Sierawski family—including Frank, his wife Kathryn, and their three kids—all experienced his diagnosis, treatment, and remission in different ways.“My kids have the luxury of not really remembering much of my treatments, surgery, brain radiation, etc. But my wife does. She remembers it like it was yesterday, and that's really given her some PTSD. You can imagine working…

Researcher Aims to Bring 360-Degree Care to Young Adults Living with Lung Cancer

Researcher Aims to Bring 360-Degree Care to Young Adults Living with Lung Cancer

Young adults (less than 50 years of age) are being diagnosed with lung cancer at increasing rates. They tend to be women of Hispanic or Asian descent and are typically diagnosed with advanced-stage lung cancer. Research is ongoing to help us develop effective options to treat these patients medically, but little is known about the effects of the diagnosis on their mental, social, and financial health or their family planning. To help us better understand the needs of this growing…

Lung Cancer Was a Death Sentence. Now Drugs Are Saving Lives.

Lung Cancer Was a Death Sentence. Now Drugs Are Saving Lives.