RET proteins are a type of receptor tyrosine kinase—an important group of signaling molecules in healthy cells. When RET proteins are turned “on” and “off” in healthy cells, they control the function of other proteins. This cascading effect allows the cells to manage important cellular functions such as cell growth through protein signaling pathways.  

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. 

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:

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.  

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.  

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. 

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. 

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 of effective immunotherapies.  

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: 

Read time: 5 minutes.  

This is Part 3 in our series on how drugs get approved to treat lung cancer.