Novel Approach to Accelerate Lung Cancer Research: Lung-MAP and the Potential of Public-Private Partnerships

The National Cancer Institute recently found that death rates for non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have been reduced by over 6% overall in recent years. This reduction in mortality has been accompanied by an average increase in overall survival and largely credited to the therapeutic advancements for the effective treatment of NSCLC. Numerous molecular alterations have been identified in NSCLC that have enabled the development of new drugs capable of targeting these changes and efficiently kill cancerous cells. New treatments to modulate patients’ immune systems have been shown to be effective in stimulating natural immune cells to have an improved anti-cancer effect. While these types of approaches to treat cancer are providing new options for patients, leadership from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recognized that the expansion of targeted therapy in NSCLC presented significant promise, but evaluation of the safety and efficacy of these new drugs would be slowed if new models for conducting clinical studies were not identified. Specifically, the FDA recommended that a comprehensive approach be implemented to identify the patients that are the best candidates for these, and other new treatments based upon the molecular characteristics of their tumors, and more efficiently conduct the clinical studies necessary to evaluate the safety and efficacy of new drugs. To address this growing challenge, leading lung cancer experts and stakeholders across academia, government, industry, and patient advocacy came together to design a clinical research approach that could serve as a sustainable infrastructure for new lung cancer treatments called the Lung Cancer Master Protocol.