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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...
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
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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... -
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... -
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... -
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... -
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... -
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... -
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... -
HER2+ NSCLC: Understanding the Latest Treatment and Advances
Many people have heard of HER2-positive breast cancer. But HER2 is an important biomarker found in many different types of cancer—including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A... -
Rare Mutations (RET, ROS1, MET, BRAF) Virtual Meetup
Rare Mutation (RET, ROS1, MET, BRAF) patients/survivors - Join us the 1st Wednesday of every month to c onnect with others who share common experiences and build your community...
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Kicking Drug Resistance to the Curb in RET-positive Lung Cancer
Kicking Drug Resistance to the Curb in RET-positive Lung Cancer
Read time: 4 minutes Lung cancers that test positive for the RET biomarker are often treated with targeted therapy. While this type of treatment has improved the duration and quality of life for many people living with lung cancer, we know that eventually these tumor cells develop drug resistance and begin to grow again. Researchers have been trying to understand what causes this drug resistance so we can develop treatment approaches to extend the time patients can effectively be treated…
Leveraging Basic Science to Stop Drug Resistance in RET+ Lung Cancer
Leveraging Basic Science to Stop Drug Resistance in RET+ Lung Cancer
Advances in targeted therapies have allowed us to treat some types of lung cancer with mutations in specific genes (for example, EGFR, KRAS, and RET). This has given some patients with lung cancer a better quality of life and longer survival. However, even after an initial response to the targeted therapy, lung tumors will eventually grow again. Research suggests this drug resistance is likely to involve drug-tolerant persister cells, or DTPCs—cells that tolerate the drug and persist after…
Highlights of AACR 2024: Where the Laboratory Meets the Patient
Highlights of AACR 2024: Where the Laboratory Meets the Patient
Read time: 7 minutesIt’s spring! The daffodils bloom, the days become longer, and I attend the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). For those of you who are new to this meeting, it is the largest gathering of laboratory scientists and clinicians in the world—coming together to discuss how to take science from the bench (laboratory) to patients and communities. This year’s meeting was held in sunny San Diego and brought together more than 23,000 attendees. Below…
Cancer Grand Challenges Summit 2024: No Time to Waste in Addressing Some of Toughest Challenges in Cancer
Cancer Grand Challenges Summit 2024: No Time to Waste in Addressing Some of Toughest Challenges in Cancer
Read time: 4 minutesI just returned from the Cancer Grand Challenges Summit, held March 5–8, 2024 in London, England. Cancer Grand Challenges was launched in 2020 as a collaboration between Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute in the US, whereby they provide $25 million to international, multi-institutional teams working to address some of the most perplexing issues in the cancer field. I am LUNGevity’s representative on Team CANCAN, which is working to understand and treat…
Leveraging Genetics to Understand Why Younger Adults Are Developing Lung Cancer
Leveraging Genetics to Understand Why Younger Adults Are Developing Lung Cancer
Read Time: 5 minutesIt’s a mystery that has been baffling researchers: Why do some people develop lung cancer in their 20s or 30s? While we used to think lung cancer was only caused by exposure to tobacco and environmental factors like radon, researchers are starting to learn that the development of lung cancer, particularly in younger adults, could have a hereditary component. LUNGevity partnered with the Lung Cancer Initiative, a leading nonprofit in North Carolina, to support…
LUNGevity Announces $1.2M in Lung Cancer Workforce Development Research Awards
LUNGevity Announces $1.2M in Lung Cancer Workforce Development Research Awards
LUNGevity Foundation is proud to announce the recipients of four awards to bolster the lung cancer research workforce— the Career Development Award, the VA Research Scholar Award, the Health Equity and Inclusiveness Research Fellow Award, and the ASTRO-LUNGevity Residents/Fellows in Radiation Oncology Seed Grant.“Progress in lung cancer research is only possible with a vibrant and diverse thoracic oncology workforce,” notes Upal Basu Roy, PhD, MPH, executive director, LUNGevity Research. “We…
Treatment & Research Takeaways: ESMO 2023 Meeting
Treatment & Research Takeaways: ESMO 2023 Meeting
The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) recently held its annual conference from October 20 – 24, 2023 in Madrid, Spain. ESMO represents one of the largest gatherings of the international oncology community, and this year’s meeting had over 30,000 registered attendees from around the world. Though October 19th brought record rainfall to Madrid, breaking a 100-year record, the rain in Spain didn’t dampen the palpable excitement of this year’s meeting. This was an especially…
What Is a Clinical Trial
What Is a Clinical Trial
Lung cancer clinical trials are carefully designed research studies to evaluate and learn more about new drugs and treatments. They give people the ability to participate in lung cancer research and access to new treatments that otherwise may not be available to them, all under the close supervision of medical experts.
Watch Recorded Expert Sessions From ILCSC
Watch Recorded Expert Sessions From ILCSC
The International Lung Cancer Survivorship Conference (ILCSC) is a free virtual educational conference for people with lung cancer, caregivers, and advocates. The 2023 conference was held September 22-23. The recorded sessions from this conference are available to registered participants through December 21, 2023, at www.lungevity.org/ilcsc. If you did not register for the conference but would like to view the recordings, you may still register for free access. The recordings are…
The Latest Lung Cancer Science: Highlights of WCLC 2023
The Latest Lung Cancer Science: Highlights of WCLC 2023
I had the privilege of attending the 2023 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in Singapore with my colleague Dr. Bellinda King-Kallimanis. WCLC, the world's largest meeting dedicated to lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies, is an excellent forum for learning about the latest research into the early detection and treatment of lung cancer. Apart from the science, it was inspiring to see fellow advocates and network with brilliant researchers, all razor-focused on improving the outcomes…
What's new in RET-positive lung cancer: Moving beyond tyrosine kinase inhibitors
What's new in RET-positive lung cancer: Moving beyond tyrosine kinase inhibitors
This recorded Facebook Live presentation features guest speakers Nicolas Le-Bel (caregiver and member of the RETpositive patient group) and Dr. Alex Drilon (Thoracic Oncologist & Early Drug Development Specialist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center). Dr. Drilon is also a recipient of a 2022 Hamoui Foundation/LUNGevity Lung Cancer Research Award for RET-positive lung cancer. Thank you to the Hamoui Foundation for their partnership.
Decentralized Trials: Bringing Clinical Trials Closer to the Patient
Decentralized Trials: Bringing Clinical Trials Closer to the Patient
While participating in clinical trials can provide substantial benefits to people with lung cancer, the resources required to do so may pose significant hurdles, especially to those who don’t live close to where trials are held, such as academic medical centers or major oncology network sites. Decentralized clinical trials remove some hurdles to trial participation for patients and are thus important for improving trial access for larger and more diverse groups of people. The U.S. Food and Drug…
2023 ASCO: Highlights of Lung Cancer Research
2023 ASCO: Highlights of Lung Cancer Research
Recently, members of LUNGevity Foundation joined thousands of attendees from the US and around the world, including oncologists, scientists, biotech and pharmaceutical representatives, advocates, and patients, to discuss lifesaving cancer research at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago from June 2 through June 6, 2023. The theme for this year’s conference, “Partnering With Patients: The Cornerstone of Cancer Care and Research,” was in recognition of…
Tracing the Clues of a Global Killer: How Dr. Charles Swanton’s Research Is Shedding New Light on Lung Cancer
Tracing the Clues of a Global Killer: How Dr. Charles Swanton’s Research Is Shedding New Light on Lung Cancer
As Chief Investigator of the groundbreaking Cancer Research UK (CRUK) TRACERx study, you could say that Dr. Charles Swanton is having a moment. Launched nine years ago, TRACERx seeks to understand lung cancer at its most basic level, “tracing” the clues that may predict how it starts and eventually changes over time so that doctors can treat it better.Collecting comprehensive genomic and clinical data from over 800 people with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), Dr. Swanton and a team of…
Tackling the Biggest Challenges in Cancer
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…
RET, MET, and EGFR: An unusual tale of three oncogenes in lung cancer
RET, MET, and EGFR: An unusual tale of three oncogenes in lung cancer
LUNGevity's Upal Basu Roy, PhD, MPH, Executive Director, Research, discusses innovative research into RET+ NSCLC with patient advocates and the scientist conducting the studies. Panelists include Omaima Salous (diagnosed with RET+ NSCLC and co-founder of The Hamoui Foundation), Dr. Hilary Hammell (diagnosed with RET+ NSCLC and co-chair of RETpositive), and Dr. Tejas Patil (Assistant Professor, University of Colorado). The discussion focuses on Dr. Patil’s RET+ NSCLC research project…
Real-World Drug Development at the Targeted Therapies of Lung Cancer Meeting
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…
Innovative Research Brings Potential New Class of Drugs for Patients with ALK-EML4 Fusion
Innovative Research Brings Potential New Class of Drugs for Patients with ALK-EML4 Fusion
Targeted therapies, or treatments directed towards specific biomarkers in tumor cells, have been effective in treating many patients with advanced-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Tumors that have the ALK protein fused with another cancer-driving protein, such as the EML4 protein, are often referred to as ALK-positive tumors. Approximately 5% of advanced-stage adenocarcinoma, a type of NSCLC, will test positive for an ALK-fusion biomarker. Treating patients with ALK-positive lung…
Science Spotlight: NSCLC Transformation into SCLC
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-…
Harnessing the Immune System to Tackle RET-positive Lung Cancer
Harnessing the Immune System to Tackle RET-positive Lung Cancer
LUNGevity's Upal Basu Roy, PhD, MPH, Executive Director of Research, interviewed Hilary Hammell (RETpositive) and Dr. Alexandre Reuben (MD Anderson Cancer Center) about an exciting project on using the immune system to treat RET-positive lung cancer. This project is being funded by the RETpositive patient group. This interview was live on Facebook on October 18; watch the video here.