Dr. Jack West reviews emerging new information and controversial topics in health care in general, cancer treatment in particular.
Chemo/Immunotherapy Data Increasingly Compelling with Additional Follow-Up (BMIC-009)
Dr. Jack West assesses the merits of a combination of chemotherapy with pembrolizumab (Keytruda) based on the evolving efficacy data, especially the maturing results for overall survival, with longer follow-up of the KEYNOTE-021g trial. (6:55)
Do Patients with Advanced NSCLC Doing Well on an Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Reach a Point of Diminishing Returns after a Fixed Duration of Treatment? (BMIC-008)
Dr. Jack West reviews the important, clinically relevant results of the CheckMate-153 trial that asks whether there is a value in continuing an immune checkpoint inhibitor in patients with advanced NSCLC doing well on immunotherapy. (7:00)
The FLAURA Trial: Practice-Changing Results for Patients with EGFR Mutation-Positive NSCLC (BMIC-007)
Dr. Jack West reviews data from ESMO 2017 & the NEJM paper on the PACIFIC trial of durvalumab vs. placebo as consolidation after chemoradiation for patients with unresectable stage III NSCLC, focusing especially on why these results are practice-changing. (9:36)
Immunotherapy in Stage III NSCLC: The Practice-Changing Results of the PACIFIC Trial Usher in a New Standard (BMIC-006)
Dr. Jack West reviews data from ESMO 2017 & the NEJM paper on the PACIFIC trial of durvalumab vs. placebo as consolidation after chemoradiation for patients with unresectable stage III NSCLC, focusing especially on why these results are practice-changing. (6:19)
Is There Still a Value in Testing for PD-L1 Expression in Advanced NSCLC Today? (BMIC-005)
Dr. Jack West explains the potential value PD-L1 expression during the initial workup of patients with advanced NSCLC, in the face of a broad FDA approval for chemo/immunotherapy regardless of PD-L1 status in patients with advanced non-squamous NSCLC. (2:40)
Better Communication Leads to Better Outcomes for Cancer Patients (BMIC-004)
Dr. Jack West reviews data from pivotal trials showing that platforms that enable better communication between the cancer patient and the clinic lead to better clinical outcomes, including longer overall survival. (3:34)
Are Two Immunotherapy Agents Better than One? Will the MYSTIC Trial Prove to Be a Mistake? (BMIC-003)
Dr. Jack West reviews the promise of combinations of immunotherapies for advanced NSCLC and the implications for the field of the initial report that the MYSTIC trial failed to show an improvement in progression-free survival with an IT combination. (6:23)
Early Returns on the FLAURA Trial: Should Osimertinib be a First Line Agent in EGFR Mutation-Positive NSCLC? (BMIC-002)
Dr. Jack West discusses the implications of a positive FLAURA trial, which revealed a significant improvement in progression-free survival for first line osimertinib over gefitinib or erlotinib in patients with EGFR mutation-positive advanced NSCLC. (4:51)
Importing Immunotherapy into the Curative Setting for NSCLC: The Potential Implications of the PACIFIC Trial (BMIC-001)
Dr. Jack West reviews the potential new role for immunotherapy in locally advanced NSCLC based on the early report that the PACIFIC trial of durvalumab after chemo/radiation is positive for a significant improvement in progression-free survival. (4:18)