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5 treatment settings, 5 with more than one named option. Each section lays out the options the standard of care names, what each is for, the trials behind them with their recorded results, the side effects and cautions on record, and questions to ask. Built from the cancer page's standard-of-care rows; nothing here is advice for your case.
Biopsy with Ki-67, morphology and p53 or Rb immunohistochemistry to separate carcinoma from grade 3 tumour; FDG PET and CT; somatostatin receptor PET only if radioligand therapy is contemplated.
A scan that shows where a radioactive tracer accumulates, so it images what tumours are doing rather than what they look like.
A CT scan is a fast 3D X-ray that shows the size and shape of tumours and whether they have spread.
A PET scan using a radioactive hormone mimic that lights up neuroendocrine tumours and shows whether the matching radioactive treatment will work.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Resection or definitive chemoradiotherapy with perioperative platinum-etoposide, following the limited-stage small-cell lung cancer model.
Platinum plus etoposide has been the chemotherapy backbone of small-cell lung cancer for over 40 years, and is now given with immunotherapy.
Etoposide is a chemotherapy from the mayapple plant, essential to curing testicular cancer (BEP), treating small-cell lung cancer, lymphomas, childhood sarcomas and leukaemias, and used in transplant conditioning.
Cisplatin is the original platinum chemotherapy, discovered by accident in 1965; it cures testicular cancer and makes radiation work better in cervical and head and neck cancer.
Carboplatin is a platinum chemotherapy that crosslinks DNA; it is part of the standard pre-surgery regimen for triple-negative breast cancer.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Platinum with etoposide (cisplatin or carboplatin), with a PD-1 or PD-L1 antibody added by extrapolation from small-cell lung cancer or within a trial.
Platinum plus etoposide has been the chemotherapy backbone of small-cell lung cancer for over 40 years, and is now given with immunotherapy.
Etoposide is a chemotherapy from the mayapple plant, essential to curing testicular cancer (BEP), treating small-cell lung cancer, lymphomas, childhood sarcomas and leukaemias, and used in transplant conditioning.
Carboplatin is a platinum chemotherapy that crosslinks DNA; it is part of the standard pre-surgery regimen for triple-negative breast cancer.
Cisplatin is the original platinum chemotherapy, discovered by accident in 1965; it cures testicular cancer and makes radiation work better in cervical and head and neck cancer.
A PD-L1 blocker used in lung, liver, and bladder cancer. In 2026 it became the first drug approved based on a blood test showing leftover cancer after bladder surgery.
A PD-L1 blocker that became standard after chemoradiation for stage III lung cancer, and now in bladder, biliary, and gastric cancers.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Pneumonitis (immune-mediated) · Monotherapy pooled | 3% | 0.8% |
| Hepatitis (immune-mediated) · Monotherapy pooled | 1.8% | 0.7% |
| Colitis (immune-mediated) · Monotherapy pooled | 1% | 0.5% |
| Hypothyroidism (immune-mediated) · Monotherapy pooled | 4.9% | 0.2% |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Pneumonitis (any cause, PACIFIC) · vs 12.8% placebo; 1.1% fatal | 18.3% | - |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
FOLFIRI, FOLFOX, capecitabine-temozolomide or topotecan; nivolumab with ipilimumab in selected patients (DART); DLL3-directed T-cell engagers in trials.
FOLFIRI is the other backbone bowel-cancer chemotherapy, swapping oxaliplatin for irinotecan. Used first or second line and, since 2026, with the BRAF combination.
FOLFOX is the workhorse chemotherapy combination for bowel cancer, used after surgery to cure and in advanced disease as the backbone that targeted drugs are added to.
CAPTEM (capecitabine plus temozolomide) is an all-oral chemotherapy pair that shrinks pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours in about a third of patients.
Topotecan is the long-standing second-line chemotherapy for relapsed small-cell lung cancer, and now the comparator that new drugs must beat.
Nivolumab was the second PD-1 blocker and is often combined with ipilimumab. Long-term data show about half of advanced melanoma patients alive at 10 years on the combination.
Ipilimumab was the first checkpoint inhibitor (2011), and proved the immune system could be unleashed against cancer.
Neuroendocrine cohort: about one in four responded, concentrated in high-grade disease; angiosarcoma cohort about one in four, mostly cutaneous scalp and face tumours; many other cohorts inactive.
No headline result recorded yet.
No headline result recorded yet.
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Colitis with ipilimumab (1+3 mg/kg) · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 25% | 14.4% |
| Hepatitis with ipilimumab · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 15% | 13.4% |
| Colitis · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 2.9% | 1.7% |
| Hepatitis · Monotherapy pooled unless stated | 1.8% | 1.5% |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Colitis (with nivolumab 1+3) · Nivolumab 1 mg/kg + ipilimumab 3 mg/kg, melanoma | 25% | 14.4% |
| Hepatitis (with nivolumab) · Nivolumab 1 mg/kg + ipilimumab 3 mg/kg, melanoma | 15% | 13.4% |
| Rash (with nivolumab) · Nivolumab 1 mg/kg + ipilimumab 3 mg/kg, melanoma | 28% | 4.8% |
| Adrenal insufficiency (with nivolumab) · Nivolumab 1 mg/kg + ipilimumab 3 mg/kg, melanoma | 8% | 2.6% |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Reclassify as grade 3 neuroendocrine tumour and treat accordingly.
CAPTEM (capecitabine plus temozolomide) is an all-oral chemotherapy pair that shrinks pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours in about a third of patients.
Lutetium-177 dotatate was the first modern radioligand therapy (2018), for neuroendocrine tumours, and is now used in first line.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Lymphopenia · NETTER-1; grade 3-4 rates | - | 44% |
| GGT increased · NETTER-1; grade 3-4 rates | - | 20% |
| Vomiting · NETTER-1; grade 3-4 rates | - | 7% |
| Nausea · NETTER-1; grade 3-4 rates | - | 5% |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.