By Jack West, MD

For the upcoming #LCSM chat on Thursday, 5/26 at 8 PM Eastern (5 PM Pacific) we’re going to do a preview of what are likely to be the most notable and clinically relevant presentations in lung cancer, and one in mesothelioma, at the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago in early June. This meeting brings together over 30,000 cancer specialists every year to review thousands of presentations. Nobody can see it all, and one important aspect of not being overwhelmed is knowing what should be the focus of your attention.

The abstracts for these presentations have just been released, and on Thursday, we’re going to briefly review the subject and key findings for 10 in lung cancer that have the most promise for the thoracic oncology community. This won’t be the usual open question and answer format, but instead we’ll spend about 5 minutes covering each of these and welcoming your questions and comments and have some discussion on the potential implications of these presentations.

Here they are, in the order we’ll be covering them:

1. The multikinase inhibitor vandetanib demonstrates marked activity against the 2% of NSCLC cancers with RET fusions (Abstract #9012)
2. The PD-L1 inhibitor avelumab has limited activity in malignant pleural mesothelioma (Abstract #8503)
3. Weekly Taxol/Avastin vs. Taxotere every 3 weeks in previously treated advanced NSCLC (Abstract #9005)
4. Daily vs. twice daily chest radiation with concurrent chemotherapy for limited disease SCLC (Abstract #8504)
5. Tagrisso (osimertinib) in treatment of leptomeningeal carcinomatosis in paitents with EGFR mutation-positive advanced NSCLC (Abstract #9002)
6. Comparison of tissue, plasma, and urine testing for EGFR T790M trial with rociletinib (Abstract #9001)
7. Local “consolidation” therapy of radiation or surgery after first line systemic therapy in advanced NSCLC (Abstract #9004)
8. Addition of low molecular weight heparin to adjuvant chemotherapy after surgery for early stage NSCLC (Abstract 8506)
9. Rova-T, an antibody-drug conjugate, in treatment of recurrent or refractory SCLC (Abstract #LBA8505, a “late breaking abstract” not yet available)
10. Alecensa vs. Xalkori as initial ALK inhibitor therapy in Japanese patients with ALK-positive NSCLC: The J-ALEX trial (Abstract #9008)

You can review the highlights in advance through this link to my slideshare presentation of top 10 lung cancer abstracts for ASCO 2016.

I hope you’ll join us for the ASCO preview on Thursday May 26 at 8pm Eastern (5pm Pacific)! If you’re new to tweetchats, please read this primer on how to participate in #LCSM Chats.