Necitumumab: a new therapeutic option for squamous cell lung cancer?

Squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) accounts for 25% to 30% of all non-small lung carcinoma (NSCLC) diagnosed worldwide. Therapeutic advances for squamous cell lung carcinoma have remained stagnant. This is in stark comparison to adenocarcinoma of the lung, which has benefited from the development of therapies such as bevacizumab and pemetrexed, as well as targeted therapies for specific molecular subsets with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangements. Recent genomic characterization of SqCC by The Cancer Genome Atlas has identified mutations/amplifications in receptor tyrosine kinase pathways PI3K, AKT, and FGFR, which may yield potentially druggable targets for therapy in the future (1). At the present time, patients with SqCC desperately need better treatment options.