E-Newsletter - May 2024
Spotlight on ALCHEMIST Trials

 

Lung Cancer Trials Seek to Personalize Treatment
Based on Biomarkers












By David Kozono, MD, PhD
Director, Thoracic Radiation Oncology, Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center
Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology, Harvard Medical School
Study Chair, Alliance A151216 (ALCHEMIST Screening Trial)

Jacob Sands, MD
Oncology Medical Director, International Patient Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Study Chair, Alliance A081801 (ALCHEMIST Chemo-IO Trial)


ALCHEMIST (The ALCHEMIST Lung Cancer Trials - NCI), the Adjuvant Lung Cancer Enrichment Marker Identification and Sequencing Trial, is a group of studies seeking to improve treatment of patients with early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors have been completely removed by surgery.

Since its inception in 2014, more than 7,100 patients have been enrolled on the screening trial for tumor biomarker testing for participation on randomized clinical trials (RCTs) testing the benefit of biomarker-driven therapies given after surgery (adjuvant therapy). Comprehensive genomics analyses are underway to characterize tumor alterations in terms of their biology and their impact on clinical outcomes. One of the RCTs is testing the integration of immunotherapy into adjuvant therapy for resected NSCLC: ALCHEMIST Chemo-IO. Importantly, the study is testing whether starting immunotherapy at the same time as adjuvant chemotherapy may improve disease-free survival compared to starting immunotherapy only after completion of chemotherapy. This study has accrued 574 out of a planned 1,210 patients.

We are grateful for everyone’s support in enrolling patients to these trials answering critical questions in the treatment of lung cancer.


To learn more about these trials, click the links below:
Alliance A151216 - Adjuvant Lung Cancer Enrichment Marker Identification and Sequencing Trial (ALCHEMIST)
Alliance A081801 - Integration of Immunotherapy Into Adjuvant Therapy for Resected NSCLC: ALCHEMIST Chemo-IO (ACCIO)

 

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