Dr. Christine
Bestvina
interviewed by Oncology Frontier at the 2023 WCLC conference.
Oncology Frontier: Please introduce yourself, including your name, profession and where are you from?
Dr. Bestvina: Hi. My name is Christine Bestvina. I am a thoracic medical oncologist from the University of Chicago in Chicago, United States
Oncology Frontier: Post-hoc analysis of the PACIFIC trial
showed a lack of survival benefit with consolidation durvalumab versus placebo
in patient s with EGFRmut NSCLC.
Comparisons between consolidation durvalumab and EGFR-TKIs in unresectable
EGFR mut NSCLC following CRT are lacking.
how would you comment on the efficacy and safety of durvalumab and
EGFR-TKIs according to abstract MA16.11?
Dr. Bestvina: With this abstract, we saw additional evidence that durvalumab is not effective post-chemoradiation for patients who have EGFR mutations. Personally, I have not been offering durvalumab to these patients. I think we have enough evidence, both in the metastatic setting and the stage 3 setting that this is not an effective strategy. I really look forward to data from LAURA looking at the use of osimertinib in this setting. I feel pretty confident that LAURA is going to be a positive trial just based on what we are seeing in the metastatic setting, as well as the post-surgical setting.
Oncology Frontier: The identification and management of
immune-related adverse effects is a challenge.
Please share your experience in the management of immune-mediated
adverse reactions.
Dr. Bestvina: Absolutely. One of the things I am very fortunate to have at the University of Chicago is that we actually have an immune-related adverse event management team. We have been able to gather a field of subspecialists who have particular interests, including a gastrointestinal subspecialist who's interest is colitis, and a pulmonologist who's interest is pneumonitis. I think this has really helped us in our management and long term survival, as well as quality of life, for patients who experience these toxicities.