At the moment, only a certain segment of lung cancer patients benefit from immunotherapy. For instance, people with a protein called PD-L1 on their cancer cells respond well to immunotherapy drugs, that block the protein, thus unleashing the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells. PD-L1 is just one of dozens of different molecules that play a role in how cancer interacts with and evades the immune system.
Clinical trials are looking at antibodies or blockers for some of the other molecules that will likely expand the number of people with lung cancer who will benefit from immunotherapy.
Read MoreOpdivo (nivolumab) used in combination with Yervoy (ipilimumab) can be used for first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors express PD-L1 (≥1%), with no EGFR or ALK genomic tumor aberrations. The combo can also be used with 2 cycles of chemotherapy for patients with metastatic or recurrent NSCLC without certain tumor markers. The full list of approvals can be found here.
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