Currently the standard of care for new metastatic lung cancer is to combine chemotherapy with immunotherapy. Some people are not great candidates for chemotherapy, however. A new study shows that in non-small cell lung cancer patients, combining two immunotherapy medications together (nivolumab + ipilumimab) has a survival advantage over immunotherapy or chemotherapy alone. The side effect rate was similar to chemotherapy. We expect FDA approval of this regimen soon. Of note, this was not compared to combining chemotherapy and immunotherapy together (which we already know has survival advantage over chemotherapy), so it will be up to individual doctors which treatment makes the most sense for each specific patient.
