Yale SPORE in Lung Cancer News

David Rimm, MD, PhD, Anthony N. Brady Professor of Pathology, professor, medicine, Medical Oncology, Yale School of Medicine; director, Physician Scientist Training Program, Pathology Research, director, Tissue Microarray Facility, director, Yale Pathology Tissue Services, Pathology, Yale Cancer Center, discusses the primary challenges in distinguishing between HER2-low and HER2-ultralow breast cancer using current immunohistochemistry diagnostic kits.

Even the addition of immunotherapy “works less well,” said Dr. Roy Herbst, deputy director, chief of medical oncology and director of the center for thoracic cancers at Yale Cancer Center, during an interview with CURE®. “While we’ve seen some significant progress in the non-small cell [lung cancer] area, with targeted therapies and immunotherapies, in small cell [lung cancer], we haven't seen as much — the targeted therapies really don't apply,” Herbst said.

In this exclusive MedPage Today video, Roy Herbst, MD, PhD, of Yale Cancer Center in New Haven, Connecticut, discusses exciting new data surrounding osimertinib (Tagrisso) in patients with EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) from both the LAURAopens in a new tab or window and ADAURAopens in a new tab or window trials, including improvements in progression-free survival (PFS) in stage III patients and the potential of using minimal residual disease to predict optimal length of treatment.

On June 12 – 13, 2024, Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital hosted the annual Lung Cancer SPORE Workshop at Yale West Campus. This year’s two-day workshop was held in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the discovery of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation in lung cancer, which launched the era of personalized medicine in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), leading to a dramatic shift in treatment.

Roy Herbst, MD, PhD, deputy director of Yale Cancer Center leads a roundtable talk at the ASCO annual meeting that also reviews the recent tarlatamab approval.

The Yale Cancer Center has seen immense progress in the last 20 years in how lung cancer is treated. “The good news is that we’re diagnosing it earlier,” said Dr. Roy Herbst, the deputy director of the center. “The good news is that we have more specific therapies.”

On June 11, 2024, the Yale Medical Oncology-Hematology Fellowship Graduation was held.

Yale Cancer Center scientists and trainees attended the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago May 31-June 4 to present research advances from Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital. The ASCO meeting is the most significant gathering of oncology professionals worldwide, initiating connections and forging collaborations that can change the landscape of cancer care.

Speaking about computer modeling to pinpoint the optimal dose — despite its lack of precision, this approach is by far the most widely used in cancer clinical trials of experimental drugs, said workshop co-chair Patricia M. LoRusso, DO, of Yale Cancer Center.