In What Ways Is Immunotherapy For Lung Cancer Altering Patient Outlook?

For that battling lung cancer, immunotherapy for lung cancer in India—alone or in concert with traditional treatments—can significantly enhance results. Lung cancer, the most often occurring cancer globally, affects around 2.1 million people annually and ranks first among cancer-related fatalities for men and women.  Along with 130,000 deaths in 2023, the United States alone is expected to have 240,000 new lung cancer cases.  Every year, lung cancer takes more lives than cancer of the breast, prostate, and colon taken together.

 Available Treatments for Lung Cancer

Until recently, radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery were the accepted treatments for lung cancer.  Although they significantly increase longevity and provide symptom relief, most lung cancer patients are diagnosed with advanced illness (stage 3b/4). Hence, these therapies are unlikely to cause complete cures.

·       The U.S. FDA authorized the first immunotherapy to treat a subgroup of lung cancer patients in 2015.  Immunotherapy is a treatment meant to assist a person's immune system to eradicate or regulate cancer.  FDA approval of several other immunotherapy options for more lung cancer patients, including approvals to treat patients with immunotherapy as a first-line therapy instead of conventional treatments, follows from notable patient improvement in recent clinical studies treating patients with immunotherapy, either alone or in combination with other medicines.

·       Approved for subsets of individuals with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), amivantam (RybrevantTM) is a bispecific antibody that targets EGFR and MET receptors on tumor cells.

·       Approved for subsets of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), including as a first-line treatment, bevacizumab (Avastin®) is a monoclonal antibody targeting the VEGF/VEGFR system that suppresses tumor blood vessel development.

·       Approved for subsets of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), including first-line treatment, necitumumab (Portrazza®) is a monoclonal antibody targeted targeting the EGFR pathway.

·       Approved for subsets of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), including as a first-line treatment, ramucirumab (Cyramza®) is a monoclonal antibody that targets the VEGF/VEGFR2 pathway and suppresses tumor blood vessel development.

·       Approved for subsets of patients with advanced lung cancer, trastuzumab deruxtecan (Enhertu®) is an antibody-drug combination targeted at the HER2 pathway, delivering lethal medicines to tumors.

 Conclusion

These approvals of checkpoint immunotherapy for lung cancer in India were historic milestones in lung cancer treatment. Many advanced-stage lung cancer patients are beginning to find higher survival rates and long-lasting remissions with these immunotherapies. Lung cancer clinical studies are testing many immunotherapy drugs right now.