Study Shows Only About One-Third of People With NSCLC Are Benefiting From Appropriate Care

The FDA has approved around 100 targeted therapies for different types of cancer, with many more in the pipeline. Current agents for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), for example, target about 10 different biomarkers, and more than 70% of people with the condition have alterations in their tumors that are tied to available treatments. But a recent study found that due to practice gaps in the precision oncology pathway, just more than one-third of patients with biomarkers that could be treated with an FDA-approved therapy are actually benefiting from those drugs.

Lung cancer is one of the most common types of cancer, and NSCLC makes up the bulk of the cases. Many of the more than two dozen agents approved for NSCLC are targeted therapies that are indicated for specific subsets of the disease, and numerous tests are available to help providers determine the best treatment for a patient.