Abstract
Although lung cancer prognosis remains poor for most patients, treatments developed in the past 2 decades have extended survival for many. For those with disease that responded to or those with stable disease after receipt of platinum-based chemotherapy, maintenance regimens enable continued targeting of tumors beyond the induction phase, which is limited by toxicity. This overview summarizes completed phase 3 trials of pemetrexed continuation maintenance treatment in nonsquamous, non–small-cell lung cancer with a focus on 2-year survival, and highlights similar ongoing trials. Some studies showed survival benefits of pemetrexed maintenance treatment versus control arms, with the potential for added benefit when combined with bevacizumab. Two-year survival rates underscore the value of maintenance therapy and suggest progress toward a clinical goal of managing non–small-cell lung cancer as a treatable chronic disease.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | e823-e830 |
Journal | Clinical Lung Cancer |
Volume | 19 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 2018 |
Keywords
- Antifolate
- Chemotherapy
- Clinical trials
- NSCLC
- Survival rates
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Oncology
- Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine
- Cancer Research