VIDEO: Dr. Roy Herbst talks combinations, evolutions, and innovations in lung cancer

CHICAGO – One of the main take-home messages in lung cancer this year is the efficacy and tolerability demonstrated in combining checkpoint inhibitors for small-cell lung cancer, Dr. Roy Herbst said in an interview at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Combining ipilimumab and nivolumab doubled the response rate in patients with progressive small-cell lung cancer, compared with those receiving only nivolumab.

“The evolution of immunotherapy studies continues to show that immunotherapies are here to stay,” Dr. Herbst said. The next step is to expand on how many respond to them. One possibility is to combine an antiangiogenesis agent with a checkpoint inhibitor to drive T cells into the tumor. Dr. Herbst discusses results he presented at the meeting showing safety and tolerability were achieved when combining pembrolizumab and ramucirumab in patients with non–small-cell lung cancer, and the response rate was close to 30%.

In the video interview, Dr. Herbst, professor and chief of medical oncology, Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center, New Haven, Conn., also discusses the evolution of EGFR and ALK inhibitors, a new antibody drug conjugate showing early promise in small cell lung cancer, and the future of liquid biopsies.

[email protected]

On Twitter @NikolaidesLaura

CHICAGO – One of the main take-home messages in lung cancer this year is the efficacy and tolerability demonstrated in combining checkpoint inhibitors for small-cell lung cancer, Dr. Roy Herbst said in an interview at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Combining ipilimumab and nivolumab doubled the response rate in patients with progressive small-cell lung cancer, compared with those receiving only nivolumab.

“The evolution of immunotherapy studies continues to show that immunotherapies are here to stay,” Dr. Herbst said. The next step is to expand on how many respond to them. One possibility is to combine an antiangiogenesis agent with a checkpoint inhibitor to drive T cells into the tumor. Dr. Herbst discusses results he presented at the meeting showing safety and tolerability were achieved when combining pembrolizumab and ramucirumab in patients with non–small-cell lung cancer, and the response rate was close to 30%.

In the video interview, Dr. Herbst, professor and chief of medical oncology, Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center, New Haven, Conn., also discusses the evolution of EGFR and ALK inhibitors, a new antibody drug conjugate showing early promise in small cell lung cancer, and the future of liquid biopsies.

[email protected]

On Twitter @NikolaidesLaura

CHICAGO – One of the main take-home messages in lung cancer this year is the efficacy and tolerability demonstrated in combining checkpoint inhibitors for small-cell lung cancer, Dr. Roy Herbst said in an interview at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Combining ipilimumab and nivolumab doubled the response rate in patients with progressive small-cell lung cancer, compared with those receiving only nivolumab.

“The evolution of immunotherapy studies continues to show that immunotherapies are here to stay,” Dr. Herbst said. The next step is to expand on how many respond to them. One possibility is to combine an antiangiogenesis agent with a checkpoint inhibitor to drive T cells into the tumor. Dr. Herbst discusses results he presented at the meeting showing safety and tolerability were achieved when combining pembrolizumab and ramucirumab in patients with non–small-cell lung cancer, and the response rate was close to 30%.

In the video interview, Dr. Herbst, professor and chief of medical oncology, Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center, New Haven, Conn., also discusses the evolution of EGFR and ALK inhibitors, a new antibody drug conjugate showing early promise in small cell lung cancer, and the future of liquid biopsies.

[email protected]

On Twitter @NikolaidesLaura