IN THE SPOTLIGHT

What Should Patients Know About Lung Cancer Surgery?

What Should Patients Know About Lung Cancer Surgery?

Surgery is a treatment option for early-stage lung cancer that involves removing all or part of a lung to treat a cancerous tumor. It is primarily an option for people with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) staged at I, II, or IIIA. Surgery is rarely considered for tumors at stage IIIB or IV because those lung cancers have spread to other parts of the body. It is also rarely used to treat small cell lung cancer (SCLC) because SCLC is typically diagnosed at a later stage.  Types of…

Conversations that Count: Transforming Lung Cancer Care Through Insight and Innovation

Conversations that Count: Transforming Lung Cancer Care Through Insight and Innovation

The LUNGevity Conversations that Count speaker series offers an opportunity to stay informed, engage in critical discussions, and learn from top experts revolutionizing lung cancer care for underserved populations. The series is intended for healthcare professionals, community health equity champions, and anyone interested in equitable access to healthcare. In February, we welcomed Randi Williams, PhD, MPH, of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University Medical Center…

Protein Degraders in Cancer Treatment: What They Are and How They Work

Protein Degraders in Cancer Treatment: What They Are and How They Work

Join us for an engaging Facebook Live discussion on the role of RET gene alterations (fusions and mutations) in cancers such as lung and thyroid cancer.While current therapies, including tyrosine kinase inhibitors, are a cornerstone in treatment, there's a growing need for new solutions when these drugs lose their effectiveness. In this session, we will hear from Emily Walthall and Dr. Hilary Hammell from the RETpositive community as they share their insights and experiences.Also joining us is…

How One Young Adult With Stage 4 Lung Cancer Is Beating the Odds

How One Young Adult With Stage 4 Lung Cancer Is Beating the Odds

Zongertinib Displays Early Activity and Tolerability in HER2-Mutated Solid Tumors

Zongertinib Displays Early Activity and Tolerability in HER2-Mutated Solid Tumors

RET-Positive Lung Cancer: New Treatments and Beyond

RET-Positive Lung Cancer: New Treatments and Beyond

The four-person panel, including John Heymach, MD, PhD, from MD Anderson Cancer Center, discuss the current FDA-approved targeted treatments for RET-positive lung cancer—selpercatinib (Retevmo) and pralsetinib (Gavreto). While these first-line treatments have proven helpful in treating RET-positive non-small cell lung cancer, the cancer cells can eventually become resistant to the treatment, which is guiding much of Dr. Heymach’s attention at the moment.Watch the full video to hear about:Dr.…

Laughs for Lungs: Rasheed Marshall Combines Comedy With Cancer

Laughs for Lungs: Rasheed Marshall Combines Comedy With Cancer

Rasheed Marshall understands the secondhand effects of cancer well. First his mom, Joycelyn, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995. It came back in 2015 and eventually metastasized (spread) to her lungs. Soon after, his brother-in-law Romain was diagnosed with brain cancer. They both passed away the same week. “It was tough for the entire family when we learned mom’s cancer came back. She didn’t want to go through treatment again—which is why she didn’t tell us about it right away—so…

Staying Safe From Smoke, Pollution, and Dangerous Air Quality

Staying Safe From Smoke, Pollution, and Dangerous Air Quality

On the West Coast, wildfires are taking human lives and destroying homes. On the East Coast, the devastating results of Hurricane Helene are leading to illegal open burning of debris and trash. Thousands of miles separate these fires, but the results are the same—dangerous particles are entering the air we breathe. LUNGevity spoke with Angela Hopper, an 11-year lung cancer survivor who spent 30 years working as an air quality specialist at the North Carolina Department of Environmental…

Have You Heard About Cancer Cachexia?

Have You Heard About Cancer Cachexia?

Cachexia is a complex condition that causes severe muscle and weight loss, physical inactivity, and metabolic disruptions such as fatigue, nausea, and loss of concentration. It's estimated that 50% of individuals with lung cancer experience cachexia at some point.Learn more about cachexia and how to recognize the symptoms. 

Conversations that Count: Understanding the Complexities of Race and Health

Conversations that Count: Understanding the Complexities of Race and Health

The LUNGevity Conversations that Count speaker series offers an opportunity to stay informed, engage in critical discussions, and learn from top experts revolutionizing lung cancer care for underserved populations. The series is intended for healthcare professionals, community health equity champions, and anyone interested in equitable access to healthcare. In January, we welcomed Matthew McCurdy, MPH, co-founder and executive director of BLKHLTH, to speak on the complexities of race and…

Real-World Examples of Patient Involvement in Designing Clinical Trials

Real-World Examples of Patient Involvement in Designing Clinical Trials

Read time: 2 minutes.Here we present the final video in our three-part series about how patients and researchers can work together to develop clinical trials.  In the video below, LUNGevity again partnered with Rising Tide for Clinical Cancer Research to illustrate the power of having patients contribute to the research process. We use a real-world example to learn about patient-researcher collaborations through the POSITIVE study, a breast cancer-focused clinical trial. You can…

Developing Clinical Trials that Account for the Realities of Patient Life

Developing Clinical Trials that Account for the Realities of Patient Life

Read time: 2 minutes.  We are pleased to continue our three-part series about how patients and researchers can work together to develop clinical trials.  In this second video, LUNGevity again partnered with Rising Tide for Clinical Cancer Research to show how researchers and patient advocates can be empowered with tools to create clinical trials that resonate with patients and address the key issues they care about.  If you missed the first video, How Can Patients…

Zenocutuzumab Addresses High Unmet Need in NRG1-Positive NSCLC and Pancreatic Cancer

Zenocutuzumab Addresses High Unmet Need in NRG1-Positive NSCLC and Pancreatic Cancer

Our Dream Was to Start a Family, but Lung Cancer Changed Everything

Our Dream Was to Start a Family, but Lung Cancer Changed Everything

Read time: 6 minutes. After a few unimpressive encounters I experienced in real life, I tentatively returned to the Match dating app. That’s where I stumbled upon a very sweet, kind-hearted, nerdy, and compassionate man. Then I met Nate (Ha! Just joking). It was Nate. We bonded so quickly during which we identified our life goals. One goal was to have a family.  Yes, we did the whole “let’s get ready” experience. We invested in a new SUV. We were eyeing new housing…

Targeting HER2-Mutant NSCLC with Trastuzumab Deruxtecan: Initial Study Findings

Targeting HER2-Mutant NSCLC with Trastuzumab Deruxtecan: Initial Study Findings

Monitoring Patients With RET-Positive NSCLC

Monitoring Patients With RET-Positive NSCLC

FDA Accepts New Drug Application For Taletrectinib in ROS1+ NSCLC

FDA Accepts New Drug Application For Taletrectinib in ROS1+ NSCLC

China NMPA approves Innovent Biologics’ Dovbleron to treat ROS1-positive non-small cell lung cancer

China NMPA approves Innovent Biologics’ Dovbleron to treat ROS1-positive non-small cell lung cancer

The 5 Most Popular Lung Cancer Blogs From 2024

The 5 Most Popular Lung Cancer Blogs From 2024

Read time: 3 minutes. Throughout 2024 we published blogs sharing scientific meeting recaps, educational content, personal stories, treatment news, and so much more. Below are the most popular articles we published in 2024. If you’re looking for survivor features and personal stories, you can see all the lung cancer survivors we highlighted in 2024 right here.   2024 ASCO: Highlights of Lung Cancer Research In June, we recapped the annual American Society of…

Distinctions Between Alteration Types, Therapeutic Classes Could Drive Optimal Treatment Selection in HER2-Mutant NSCLC

Distinctions Between Alteration Types, Therapeutic Classes Could Drive Optimal Treatment Selection in HER2-Mutant NSCLC

Taletrectinib Approved in China for Locally Advanced/Metastatic ROS1+ NSCLC

Taletrectinib Approved in China for Locally Advanced/Metastatic ROS1+ NSCLC

Breathe Easy: Navigating Stress Through the Holiday Season

Breathe Easy: Navigating Stress Through the Holiday Season

Our meetup on Wednesday, December 17, featured guest speaker Daniel Huvard, LCSW, of MD Anderson Cancer Center, who provided tips on managing stress during the holiday season while living with lung cancer. In case you missed the meetup, below is a short video Daniel recorded covering practical coping strategies to help you care for your well-being during this time.

Research Milestones: Celebrating LUNGevity’s 2024 Research Awards

Research Milestones: Celebrating LUNGevity’s 2024 Research Awards

LUNGevity had a tremendous year supporting impactful research in 2024. In addition to our existing portfolio of ongoing research grants, we issued several new research awards in 2024. All of these awards are in strategic areas of research that are likely to move the dial for people living with lung cancer today and those who will be diagnosed in the future.  Below are more details about the research projects we recently announced funding for. LUNGevity Supports 10 New Research…

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…

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…

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…