In recent years, significant progress has been made in the clinical development and use of various types of cancer immunotherapy, all of which rely on the immune system to fight cancer. The majority of new cancer drug applications submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are for immunotherapies or combinations involving immunotherapies. One type of immunotherapy is an immune checkpoint inhibitor. Cells in the human body have proteins that regulate the immune system response to foreign invaders (e.g., cancer cells, microorganisms). However, cancer cells can coopt these “checkpoint” proteins and thwart the immune system's ability to recognize and attack cancer cells. To help promote an immune response to cancer, researchers have developed immune checkpoint inhibitors that enable T-cells to recognize cancer cells as foreign and to prevent deactivation of an immune system response. To examine the challenges and opportunities to develop combination cancer therapies that include immune checkpoint inhibitors, the National Cancer Policy Forum held a workshop on July 16–17, 2018, in Washington, DC. This workshop convened stakeholders with a broad range of expertise, including cancer researchers, clinicians, patient advocates, and representatives from industry, academia, and government. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Contents

• The National Academies of SCIENCES • ENGINEERING • MEDICINE
• WORKSHOP PLANNING COMMITTEE
• NATIONAL CANCER POLICY FORUM
• Reviewers
• Acknowledgments
• Acronyms and Abbreviations
• Proceedings of a Workshop
  • WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
  • THE LANDSCAPE FOR IMMUNE CHECKPOINT INHIBITOR THERAPY
  • STRATEGIES FOR COMBINATIONS WITH PD-1/PD-L1 INHIBITORS
  • BIOMARKERS IN DEVELOPMENT OR IN USE FOR IMMUNE CHECKPOINT INHIBITOR THERAPIES
  • CLINICAL TRIAL DESIGN STRATEGIES FOR COMBINATION IMMUNOTHERAPY
  • REAL-WORLD DATA
  • WRAP-UP
  • REFERENCES
• Appendix A. Statement of Task
• Appendix B. Workshop Agenda

Suggested citation:

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Advancing progress in the development of combination cancer therapies with immune checkpoint inhibitors: Proceedings of a workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: https://doi.org/10.17226/25405.

Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/25405

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