High-risk lung cancer patients aren’t getting screened, survey shows. What can the industry do?

Early diagnosis can make a huge difference in outcomes for lung cancer patients, and screening is particularly important for patients who are considered high-risk. But new data show that these patients are largely unaware of their screening options—and even those who are aware of them aren’t necessarily planning to pursue them.

More than half of current smokers—54%—know little or nothing about lung cancer screening, according to Phreesia Life Sciences, which surveyed more than 3,000 smokers this January as they checked in for their doctors’ appointments. And only 28% of current or former smokers, many of whom are also considered high-risk, say they are aware of lung cancer screening.

What’s more, just 5% of that latter patient pool has been screened for lung cancer in the past, and just 11% plan to be, the data show.

Those percentages don’t bode well for patients, whose tendency to be diagnosed late in their illness makes lung cancer the leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. today. Administering low-dose CT scans to high-risk patients could help cut down on the number of deaths by nearly one-quarter, said Camille Hertzka, VP and head of oncology for U.S. Medical at AstraZeneca, so screening has the potential to be very impactful.

Low lung cancer screening rates also pose a problem for drugmakers like AZ, whose blockbusters Imfinzi, a member of the PD-1/PD-L1 class, and Tagrisso, a targeted TKI for EGFR-mutated patients, are among the meds that have reshaped the treatment landscape over the past several years.

“We can develop great medicines, but if we don’t transform the way patients are being diagnosed—meaning at an earlier stage—we won’t be able to eliminate lung cancer as a cause of death, and that is really ultimately the goal,” Hertzka said.

So what can pharma do to improve lung cancer screening numbers? For starters, it’s important to understand the different challenges patients face and address them accordingly, Hertzka noted. While lack of awareness certainly contributes to low screening numbers, fear and stigma also present barriers to early detection.

“A lot of people think that lung cancer is associated with a death sentence, and so they think, ‘I’m going to die from lung cancer, so I don’t want to do anything about it. The more I can wait, the more I’m going to wait.’ We see this happening quite a lot,” she said. “We need to educate them on the fact that patients with earlier stages of disease could be cured, and that the risk of relapse is much lower for patients who are diagnosed early.”

And then there are those medically underserved patients who might be aware of their risk for lung cancer but aren’t sure what to do about it. These patients need support navigating the healthcare system, Hertzka said, and toward that end, pharma should leverage collaborations with patient advocacy groups, healthcare providers, professional associations and others to help underserved patients access the resources they need.

For its part, in 2019 AZ teamed up with the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, the Global Lung Cancer Coalition and liquid-biopsy company Guardant Health to form the Lung Ambition Alliance, a coalition dedicated to increasing lung cancer screening and early diagnosis, delivering innovative therapies and improving the quality of care.

The following year, the pharma giant partnered with patient coalitions around the world to launch “New Normal, Same Cancer,” a campaign emphasizing the importance of resuming health screenings that patients may have missed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The industry cannot work alone in a silo” to raise awareness and improve early cancer detection, Hertzka said. “We just need to join forces. I don’t think anyone can do this alone.”