What Should Patients With Lung Cancer Know After ASCO 2025?

Patients with lung cancer — whether it be non-small cell lung cancer or small cell lung cancer — may benefit from updates provided at the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting. Dr. Prantesh Jain and Dr. Joshua K. Sabari sat down for in interview, in which Sabari hosted and asked Jain what the top updates in lung cancer care at the meeting were. Here is what they had to say.

To start, Jain cited primary findings from the phase 3 IMforte trial which evaluated patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer. In the investigational trial, first-line maintenance therapy with Zepzelca (lurbinectedin) plus Tecentriq (atezolizumab) demonstrated improved key survival end points compared with Tecentriq alone.

Moreover, Sabari and Jain segued into a conversation on the topic of data derived from the phase 3 DeLLphi-304 trial, which was presented at the ASCO Meeting, as well as simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study enrolled patients with small cell lung cancer. They were then treated with second line Imdelltra (tarlatamab-dlle) which led to a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free and overall survival when compared with chemotherapy alone.

The pair concluded by touching on the five-year overall survival updates from the CheckMate 816 trial which were shared at the meeting. Importantly, the study showed that chemotherapy plus immunotherapy before surgery improved key end points in patients with lung cancer compared with chemotherapy alone before surgery. The patients who were treated with the investigative approach benefited most, they concluded.

Sabari is the editor in chief of CURE. He also serves as an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and director of High Reliability Organization Initiatives at Perlmutter Cancer Center.

Jain is a medical oncologist at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, in Buffalo, New York, where he also serves as an assistant professor of Oncology in the Department of Medicine. He also works at the State University of New York at Buffalo as a clinical assistant professor.

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