Earlier detection and reduction in the number of patient treatments' side effects associated with lung cancer

Over the years, research developments have resulted in better and more specific treatments for people living with cancer. For lung cancer, the main treatments are chemotherapy and more recently immunotherapy, but these treatments still have a number of side effects, from nausea or diarrhoea to sensory neuropathy, that can have a big impact on people’s quality of life.

Thanks to insights being developed through the iASiS platform, clinicians at SERMAS have been able to trial new interventions to better identify patients with three or more side effects. These patients are now having more regular follow-up appointments as well as liaising with other clinical specialities, such as GPs.

This has resulted in side effects being detected at an earlier stage and the number of patients living with 3-4, or 5-10 side effects being dramatically reduced by 5 and 17% respectively. Since this intervention has been trialled in 2018, the number of people living with just 1-2 side effects has increased as those living with 3 or more side effects has reduced. Moreover, drug-drug interactions are being identified. These interactions may also not only be a source of side effects, but also could alter the treatment’s efficacy. This early identification will also be useful in order to treat the patient the most appropriate drugs.

As side effects can negative effect patient’s quality of life during, and after treatment,  this intervention is improving patients’ quality of life. These insights from the iASiS platform also provides new insights and learnings that could be replicated in other clinical centres to improve more patients’ quality of life.

iASiS data confirms benefits of immunotherapy in treating lung cancer

In 2015, new guidelines recommended the use of immunotherapy as a treatment option for lung cancer in first and second line. It was shown in clinical trials that immunotherapy could improve patients’ survival rates, compared to conventional treatment (chemotherapy). However, clinical trial populations often consist of a narrow sub-set of patients without other co-morbidities, for example, and therefore this can lead to slightly different findings from results found in the clinic in a real-world setting.

The patient data on lung cancer that is incorporated in the iASiS platform is represented of the wider lung cancer patient population reported in the literature, through factors such as survival by stage of disease. Therefore, the iASiS platform also provides a large real-world dataset that can be integrated for other observational analyses and analyses. 

These insights from the iASiS project confirm the benefits of immunotherapy in a real-world, clinical setting.