American Lung Association and LUNGevity Foundation Announce $3 Million Research Partnership to Intercept Lung Cancer
In a collaborative effort to end lung cancer, the American Lung Association and LUNGevity Foundation have joined forces to invest $3 million over the next three years in research aimed at intercepting lung cancer—catching precancerous cells and blocking them from turning into cancer cells. Through initiatives like the LUNGevity Early Lung Cancer Center, this partnership aims to accelerate progress in lung cancer interception research and pave the way for personalized treatments for patients with early-stage disease.
Get Involved This Spring
Last Call: HOPE Summit 2024
May 3-5, 2024
Registration is still open for HOPE Summit 2024, which we are excited to host in Atlanta, Georgia, this year. This weekend-long conference is free to attend and combines learning how to live with lung cancer and creating long-lasting friendships.
HOPE Summit is a unique event for all people impacted by lung cancer—those living with lung cancer, survivors, caregivers, and now, whole families. The weekend features medical experts, inspirational speakers, a resource fair, peer-to-peer connection, and activities for children grades 1-12. See the full agenda here.
eRACE for Lung Cancer Hope Month
Ready, set, eRACE Lung Cancer! Join us May 1-31 as we race to transform lung cancer, one mile at a time. In this activity and fundraising challenge, you’ll be moving at your own pace and in your own space, but you’ll be connected to a vibrant community that’s all about bringing positive change for people living with lung cancer—and having fun doing it!
So, let’s get moving! Your participation makes a real difference no matter what activity best fits your lifestyle and interests. Together, we can bring more hope and support to the lung cancer community.
Quick to join, easy to track, and full of joy and support!
Science and Research Corner
Accelerated Approval Granted for HER2+ Treatment
On April 5, 2024, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the accelerated approval of fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (Enhertu®) to treat patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive solid tumors.
For more details, including common side effects, read more here. You can find additional information about HER2 and other rare NSCLC biomarkers on our Rare Mutations & Fusions Patient Gateway.
Working to Diagnose Lung Cancer Earlier in Hispanic Communities
Research has shown that health care disparities based on race and socioeconomic status extend to lung cancer screening. To help address the disparities surrounding lung cancer screening in the Hispanic community, LUNGevity awarded one of its 2022 Health Equity and Inclusiveness Junior Investigator Awards to Coral Olazagasti, MD, medical oncologist at the University of Miami. LUNGevity spoke with Dr. Olazagasti recently to understand how her experience improving lung cancer screening rates at a clinic in New York could lead to the first tailored lung cancer screening program for Hispanic patients with a history of head and neck cancer.
Be sure to check out LUNGevity’s Patient Gateways for curated research news about your specific type of lung cancer.
Health Equity in Lung Cancer Action Summit
Building on the momentum of our inaugural Health Equity Summit in 2022, in March LUNGevity hosted its second Health Equity in Lung Cancer Summit focused on political determinants of health. The focus of the summit was to identify and address barriers preventing people diagnosed with NSCLC from accessing standard-of-care treatment. Our goal is to advocate for policy solutions that will ensure equitable access to care for everyone, especially the medically underserved.
The summit brought together a diverse group of stakeholders, including community organizations, healthcare advocates, and clinicians, all with the knowledge and expertise to drive change and develop actionable policy solutions. Key areas of focus included establishing consistent treatment guidelines, promoting a more diverse healthcare workforce, and implementing quality treatment measures.
We invite you to join our policy action efforts through the LUNGevity Action Network. Together, we can make meaningful strides toward health equity in lung cancer care.
LUNGevity’s Annual Precision Medicine Summit
This March, LUNGevity hosted its annual Lung Cancer Precision Medicine Summit, bringing together 40+ organizations, including patient advocacy groups, healthcare systems, next-generation sequencing (NGS) vendors, and pharmaceutical companies. The summit focused on advancing the outcomes established during 2023’s summit, which prioritized improving patient access to biomarker testing in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Working group members shared updates and received feedback from expert panelists.
The groups concentrated on three key areas:
- Creating streamlined recommendations for hospitals to increase coverage and utilization of comprehensive biomarker testing for patients with lung cancer
- Addressing workflow and policy barriers within hospitals that impede automatically ordering biomarker testing at the time of lung cancer diagnosis
- Crafting messaging to persuade hospital decision-makers to adopt essential elements necessary for implementing precision medicine in healthcare systems
LUNGevity Partners with LBBC to Expand No One Missed Campaign to the Breast Cancer Community
LUNGevity is thrilled to announce a collaborative effort with Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC) to extend the impact of our highly successful No One Missed biomarker testing awareness campaign.
Originating as a lung cancer advocacy initiative, No One Missed has played a pivotal role in educating patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers about the crucial significance of biomarker testing in tailoring treatment plans.
Andrea Ferris, CEO and president of LUNGevity, underscores the campaign's reach and its evolution beyond lung cancer:
"While No One Missed commenced in 2021 with a focus on lung cancer, it has become evident that the importance of biomarker testing transcends cancer types. Our collaboration with LBBC allows us to share the rights of this campaign and its impactful message with the breast cancer community. It's truly exciting to witness this campaign extend its reach under the leadership of such an impactful organization."
LBBC will lead the No One Missed campaign for breast cancer, utilizing distinct branding elements and messaging tailored to their audience, while LUNGevity remains committed to its mission of supporting and advocating for those affected by lung cancer.
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