Healthcare delivery not only impacts your experiences at your health care center but can also affect your treatment outcomes. Processes and procedures are put in place at health care facilities to attempt to standardize and regulate things like wait times, coordination of care across members of your team, and referrals. However, there are still ways to improve this care delivery to improve your care experience.  Dr. Mohana Roy from Stanford joined GO2’s April 2024 Lung Cancer Living Room to discuss what you should expect at your healthcare center, what processes and quality improvements ..read more

Question: I was diagnosed with early-stage lung cancer. Do I need biomarker testing? Can I benefit from a targeted therapy if a biomarker is discovered?   (Answered by Dr. Collin Blakely from the University of California, San Francisco, during his appearance at the April 25, 2024 Lung Cancer Living Room. It has been edited slightly for this use.)   Answer:   Historically, we’ve only thought about biomarker testing and using targeted therapies for people with stage 4 (IV) or metastatic lung cancer. In the last 2 or 3 years, we’ve seen that these therapies are not only ..read more

Jim Fackler lives in Lancaster, South Carolina, with his wife, Gail. He is a proud Vietnam Veteran who served in the United States Navy. He enjoys golf, driving his pontoon on the lake, home improvement projects, and meeting with other veterans. Jim and his wife also love to travel and are planning a trip to Amsterdam and Belgium this summer. In September 2021, I was told I had stage 4 (IV) small cell lung cancer (SCLC). To say I was in shock doesn’t even begin to describe what I felt when I was given the news. After the initial diagnosis, further testing found ..read more

For people diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer, Edward “Buddy” Cutler’s story may serve as a beacon of hope, a clinical trial success story, and a reminder that statistics don’t dictate a person’s unique experience.   When Buddy was diagnosed with stage 4 (IV) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) 12 years ago, he was determined to do whatever he needed to do to fight the disease. Chemotherapy stopped working just 18 months into his diagnosis, so he turned to clinical trials to treat his disease.   The first clinical trial that Buddy joined gave him side effects so severe that ..read more

Author: Matthew Reiss, MSE, PhD, Manager, Precision Medicine & Navigation, GO2 for Lung Cancer  The first anti-cancer therapy, mechlorethamine, was approved in 1949. Since then, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has worked to ensure that new lifesaving therapies reach those who need them most.  But what does it mean to be “FDA-approved?” Do all drugs have the same approval process? What is the FDA doing to get the newest therapies to market as quickly as possible?   The following information explains the basics of the FDA’s approval process to understand how ..read more

Treatment options for people diagnosed or living with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) are constantly improving and expanding. In fact, there are more drugs in development right now than were developed in total over the last 50 years. Investments in SCLC are finally paying off, as new therapies represent hope for people living with the disease.   Dr. Jared Weiss from the University of North Caroline joined GO2’s March 2024 Lung Cancer Living Room to share the breadth of currently approved treatments for SCLC, the importance of palliative/supportive care while being treated for SCLC, a ..read more

Question: I have a family history of lung cancer – both my mother and grandmother were diagnosed with the disease. Am I at greater risk for lung cancer because of genetics?     The role of genetics in determining someone’s lung cancer risk is not fully understood. While most cases of lung cancer are not related to inherited genetic risk, recent research showed that approximately 8-15% of the people who receive a lung cancer diagnosis carry hereditary mutations that are known to increase cancer risk. Genetic risk is most likely to play a role in lung cancer for people who are young, femal ..read more

Author: Matthew Reiss, MSE, PhD, Manager, Precision Medicine & Navigation, GO2 for Lung Cancer  On April 18, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Alecensa (alectinib) following surgical resection for people living with early-stage ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).  The approval is based on results from the ALINA study (NCT03456076). Participants with stage 1B (IB) to 3A (IIIA), ALK-positive NSCLC received 600 mg of Alecensa (alectinib) twice daily after surgery to remove the cancer. People treated with Alecensa (alectinib) had a meaningful red ..read more

Clinical Trial Aims to Unlock the Origins of Lung Cancer   WASHINGTON and BOSTON, April 17, 2024 – In a promising step forward, GO2 for Lung Cancer (GO2), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Dana-Farber), and the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI), GO2’s medical research consortium, announced a major expansion of landmark research studying genetic risk for developing lung cancer.  The ORIGINS INITIATIVE is GO2’s multi-year, multi-million-dollar endeavor seeking to uncover the underlying causes of inherited risk of lung cancer. This research platform builds upon earlier nov ..read more

Brings background in data, AI, and analytics to help guide research collaboration and improved patient outcomes  WASHINGTON, April 15, 2024 —  GO2 for Lung Cancer (GO2) announced that the organization elected Fern Halper, Ph.D. to its board of directors. Halper is vice president and senior director of TDWI Research for advanced analytics. She has more than 20 years of experience in data analysis, predictive modeling, business analytics, and strategy development. Halper specializes in the technology areas of business intelligence, machine learning, AI, cloud computing, and data ..read more