Hospital Puerta de Hierro joins a clinical trial that could change the paradigm of lung cancer
Source: www.immedicohospitalario.es
The Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro Majadahonda, led by the Head of the Medical Oncology Department, Dr. Mariano Provencio, is participating in an international clinical trial whose results could mean a paradigm shift in the treatment of early and intermediate stage lung cancer.
This clinical trial (Checkmate-816) is a multicentre, comparative study that has shown that the administration of chemotherapy and immunotherapy before surgery in patients with early or intermediate stage lung cancer offers better survival results than the administration of chemotherapy alone. Although these definitive results are not yet public, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has decided to approve this new fast-track treatment regimen. In the coming weeks, the data will also be submitted to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for assessment.
Dr. Provencio will be in charge of presenting the final data of this clinical trial during the next American Society of Medical Oncology (ASCO) Congress, which will be held between Friday 3 and Tuesday 7 June in Chicago. In addition, Dr. Provencio will also give one of the educational lectures at the event, specifically on the current management of lung cancer in these stages.
NADIM study
The first research worldwide that hypothesised that the administration of a combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy prior to surgery could be beneficial and safe for patients with early or intermediate stage lung cancer originated in Spain, specifically in the Spanish Lung Cancer Group (GECP) chaired by Dr. Provencio.
The NADIM clinical trial demonstrated that treatment prior to surgery with a combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy doubled the survival results compared to treatment with chemotherapy after surgery. During the development of this trial, all the translational research of the study (biopsies, mutation detection, etc.) was carried out at the Puerta de Hierro Hospital.
At the same time, the American study Checkmate-816 was based on the Spanish treatment scheme, the NADIM clinical trial, to compare it with the current standard of care, i.e. the administration of chemotherapy alone before surgery. The principal investigator of the Checkmate-816 study is Dr Patrick Forde, director of the Thoracic Oncology Clinical Research Program at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore (USA).
According to data from the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM), it is estimated that lung cancer will be the second most common cancer both globally and nationally by 2022, second only to breast cancer.
