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Led CheckMate 017, the first trial to show immunotherapy beats chemotherapy in lung cancer.
Julie R. Brahmer is Director of Thoracic Oncology and Co-Director of the Upper Aerodigestive Department at the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute, Johns Hopkins Hospital and Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is a thoracic oncologist known for leading CheckMate 017, the first trial to show immunotherapy beats chemotherapy in lung cancer, alongside early PD-L1 antibody work. Her selected paper reports nivolumab versus docetaxel in advanced squamous-cell non-small-cell lung cancer. She is also a long-term follow-up author of the first-line pembrolizumab trials and works on mesothelioma.
| Title | Journal | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Nivolumab versus docetaxel in advanced squamous-cell non-small-cell lung cancer | New England Journal of Medicine | 2015 |
| CheckMate 816: three cycles of nivolumab plus chemotherapy before lung cancer surgery | New England Journal of Medicine | 2022 |
| Topalian 2012: the first large trial of a PD-1 antibody shows durable responses across melanoma, lung and kidney cancer | New England Journal of Medicine | 2012 |
Patients with operable stage II-III lung cancer without EGFR or ALK alterations should have chemo-immunotherapy discussed before surgery rather than only afterwards. Three pre-operative cycles do not compromise the operation and improve cure rates. Whether to continue immunotherapy after surgery, as the perioperative trials do, and whether patients with pCR need any further treatment, remain open questions.
With CheckMate 057 this trial ended docetaxel's role as the default second-line treatment in lung cancer and gave the first phase 3 proof that PD-1 blockade extends life in a common carcinoma. Its PD-L1-independent benefit in squamous disease still shapes how the biomarker is used.
This study is why PD-1 inhibitors were developed across cancers rather than in melanoma alone: unexpected activity in lung cancer, historically thought immune-resistant, changed drug development priorities industry-wide. It also introduced PD-L1 immunohistochemistry as a candidate biomarker and pneumonitis as a signature toxicity. Within five years PD-1 blockade was approved in more than ten cancers.
The first time a targeted biological agent extended survival in lung cancer, and the first time median survival in the advanced setting crossed twelve months. It also set the pattern that a drug's exclusion criteria can matter as much as its mechanism.
Shares CheckMate 816: three cycles of nivolumab plus chemotherapy before lung cancer surgery, Johns Hopkins Hospital / Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Mesothelioma, Nivolumab.
Shares Topalian 2012: the first large trial of a PD-1 antibody shows durable responses across melanoma, lung and kidney cancer, Johns Hopkins Hospital / Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Nivolumab, PD-1.
Shares CheckMate 816: three cycles of nivolumab plus chemotherapy before lung cancer surgery, Nivolumab, PD-1, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
Shares CheckMate 017: nivolumab beats docetaxel in squamous lung cancer after chemotherapy, Nivolumab, PD-1, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
Shares PD-L1-high non-small-cell lung cancer without a driver mutation, Pembrolizumab, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
Shares CheckMate 816: three cycles of nivolumab plus chemotherapy before lung cancer surgery, Nivolumab, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
Shares CheckMate 017: nivolumab beats docetaxel in squamous lung cancer after chemotherapy, Nivolumab, Pembrolizumab.
Shares CheckMate 017: nivolumab beats docetaxel in squamous lung cancer after chemotherapy, Nivolumab, Pembrolizumab.