In today’s episode, we spoke with Anne Chiang, MD, PhD, to discuss the rapidly evolving treatment landscape in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and what this new era of innovation means for patients. Dr Chiang is an associate professor of medicine in the Section of Medical Oncology at Yale School of Medicine and associate cancer center director for clinical initiatives at Yale Cancer Center in New Haven, Connecticut.
In our exclusive interview, Chiang reflected on how the field has shifted since the introduction of chemoimmunotherapy in 2018, highlighting improvements in median overall survival and the emergence of long-term responders in extensive-stage disease. Chiang also explored the growing understanding of disease heterogeneity, and the evolution of biomarker-informed strategies like under evaluation in the phase 2 S2409 PRISM trial (NCT06769126).
Additionally, Chiang examined the clinical effect of DLL3-targeted therapies, including the recently approved bispecific antibody tarlatamab-dlle (Imdelltra), and how surface-targeting strategies are expanding options beyond traditional chemotherapy. Beyond efficacy, Chiang underscored the importance of individualized decision-making by assessing patient fitness beyond ECOG performance status, navigating treatment urgency in rapidly progressive disease, and balancing durability with toxicity when counseling patients on therapy.
