In the past 13 years, an earthshaking change has occurred in treatment of non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The emergence of two new treatment methods – targeted treatment and immunotherapy – has overturned doctors’ and patients’ perception of standard of care for NSCLC. However, not all of the driver oncogenes in NSCLC have been identified.

Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) is a fusion oncogene, and the prevalence of ALK mutations in NSCLC patients is similar across different races. At CSCO 2017, the main progress for the treatment of ALK-mutant-positive NSCLC patients related to the new recommendations for first-line and second-line treatments, and the optimal strategies to manage patients before and after resistance to ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs).

The emergence of EGFR TKIs has changed the standard of care in EGFR-mutant NSCLC patients. IPASS was the first open-label randomized study to compare the first-generation EGFR TKI gefitinib with platinum-based chemotherapy in Chinese patients with EGFR-mutant NSCLC. It showed that the disease-free survival (DFS) rate was remarkably higher in the gefitinib group compared to chemotherapy.

Squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) is one of the histopathological subtypes of non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and it accounts for 20 % to 30 % of these patients [1]. Unfortunately, few studies have explored the treatment options for patients with SqCC, and progress in SqCC treatment lags behind other histopathological and/or molecular subtypes of NSCLC [2].

Over the last decade, the increasing understanding of critical molecular and cellular mechanisms which drive tumor initiation, maintenance, and progression in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have contributed to the discovery of various novel drug targets and the development of new treatment strategies.

Lung cancer (LC) is the leading cause of tumor deaths worldwide. Per year, 1.8 million people are diagnosed with LC, and the annual death toll amounts to 1.6 million. Non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type, which accounts for 85% of LC cases. Squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC), adenocarcinoma (AC), and large-cell carcinoma are subtypes of NSCLC.

Dear Colleagues, In the global fight against cancer, clinical trials across multiple regions of the world have become common practice, with the ultimate goal to bring good medicinal products to patients around the world, as fast as scientifically possible. Safety and efficacy data generated from local patients are a regulatory requirement in many countries including China.