BTOG 2017 | Balancing the benefits and costs of immunotherapy in the treatment of lung cancer

Rolf A. Stahel, MD, University Hospital Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland, reflects on advances in lung cancer treatment with immunotherapy.

Although immunotherapy brings new treatment options and new hope to lung cancer patients, only about 20% respond to treatment. Many questions remain hotly debated by the oncology community: How to select patients who will benefit the most from treatment? Can we identify reliable biomarkers that will guide treatment decisions? In the absence of rational selection of the right patient for the right drug, should every patient be treated with immunotherapy? and who should cover the costs?

Recorded at the 2017 meeting of the British Thoracic Oncology Group (BTOG) in Dublin, Ireland.