The Colon Club

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I've had a look around for a NSCLC forum without much success. The forums exist but the activity level is low.

SYDNEY, Australia, 8 March 2017 – Australians with a deadly form of lung cancer can now bypass chemotherapy to receive medicine that activates the body’s immune system to fight cancer cells.

MSD today announced that its cancer fighting immunotherapy KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab) has been approved for use prior to, as well as following, chemotherapy to treat advanced non-small cell lung cancer in patients with a protein known as programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1)*. For this immunotherapy, each patient needs to be tested to determine their suitability for the treatment.*

Until now, this treatment had only been available for patients with advanced melanoma.

“The great news is that KEYTRUDA can now be prescribed to previously untreated lung cancer patients, as well those whose cancer has spread after chemotherapy,” said Associate Professor Tom John, from The Olivia Newton-John Cancer Centre.

“This marks the first time that Australians with lung cancer can receive an immunotherapy without having first failed chemotherapy,” he said.

The approval of KEYTRUDA for use in previously untreated lung cancer patients comes five months after the publication of a landmark study that compared the immuno-oncology therapy to traditional chemotherapy, involving Australian doctors – including Associate Professor John – and patients.