The phase III E1505 trial was designed to investigate the addition of bevacizumab to adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with early-stage, completely resected NSCLC. It was based on the rationale that the benefit of adjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy is modest in this population. E1505 included 1,501 patients with completely resected, stage IB NSCLC.

Evidence suggests the existence of a ,limited metastatic’ NSCLC phenotype. However, the type of optimal treatment and the role of aggressive local therapy in these patients remain controversial. Gomez et al. presented the first prospective, randomised trial to address this question. Patients had stage IV disease without RECIST progression and a maximum of three metastases after front-line systemic therapy (FLST).

The randomised, multicentre, open-label, phase II RENO trial was conducted with the objective of establishing a standard chemotherapy regimen in the setting of chemo-radiotherapy of locally advanced NSCLC. A total of 134 patients with inoperable stage III NSCLC received either oral vinorelbine plus cisplatin or etoposide plus cisplatin.

As chemotherapy in the second-line or third-line settings of NSCLC shows limited efficacy, the phase III, randomised ULTIMATE trial tested the combination of chemotherapy and bevacizumab in patients with advanced NSCLC of non-squamous histology, who had progressed after one or two lines of treatment.

Only minor progress has been made over the past 30 to 40 years in the treatment of small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), which accounts for 10 % to 15 % of lung cancer cases. SCLC is radiosensitive, but approximately 70 % of patients present with extended disease that cannot be included within one radiotherapy field. The majority of patients respond to first-line chemotherapy.

The Lung Cancer Mutation Consortium (LCMC) is a multi-institutional consortium for the study of driver mutations of lung adenocarcinoma. The cooperating sites enable the identification of relatively large numbers of patients with uncommon and rare alterations, facilitate the analysis of their clinical characteristics, and lay the ground for targeted therapy trials.

Which parameters should be taken into consideration regarding the choice of EGFR TKIs in a lung cancer patient with an activating EGFR mutation? When EGFR mutations are diagnosed in the first-line setting, we have the luxury of having three options today. However, it is important to discriminate between the different types.

The phase IIb LUX-Lung 7 trial was a head-to-head comparison of the second- generation ErbB family blocker afatinib and the first-generation reversible EGFR TKI gefitinib in patients with treatment-naïve, EGFR-mutation-positive, advanced (stage IIIB/IV) adenocarcinoma of the lung.According to the primary analysis, patients treated with afatinib derived significant PFS, ORR and time-to-treatment-failure benefits compared to those who received gefitinib.

It is important to understand that Latin America is a large continent with approximately 600 million inhabitants. The four most-populated cities are Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Buenos Aires, where the number of people living in just these four cities is equal to the total number of inhabitants of France.

ALK gene rearrangements occur in approximately 4 %to 5 % of all Caucasian and Asian patients with advanced NSCLC. Crizotinib was the first approved ALK inhibitor and is the current front-line standard treatment for ALK-positive NSCLC. However, despite initial responses to TKI treatment, all of these patients relapse in the long run.