The Future of Lung Cancer Treatment: Immunotherapy - Nov

Immunotherapies are a important component of treatments for people with more advanced stages of lung cancer. So they're being used routinely now so that most patients with stage 3 or 4 lung cancers are receiving immunotherapy as part of their main treatment. We can build on all the accomplishments that we've had to date with immunotherapies. One big step will be using it in stage 1 and 2 lung cancers.

And in those patients, many times surgery is going to be their main treatment. So how do we use immunotherapies in combination with surgery in those patients? There are some data, already using it as a preoperative treatment where we can get cancers to shrink, start shrinking before surgery, that look promising. There are also trials looking at using it as what we call an adjunctive therapy, so giving it after the tumor's removed, especially in people where there has been spread to lymph nodes.

So that will be a big step in determining if that really improves the outcomes for those early stage patients.