All Cancers Lung Cancer Treatment & Recovery

Drugs Used in Lung Cancer Maintenance Therapy

Medically Reviewed by Angel Qin, MD

Written by J. GuanJan 2, 20245 min read

Source: Shutterstock

Following the completion of your prescribed cycles of first-line treatment your lung cancer is now under control and stable. You may then be placed under maintenance therapy to prolong this favorable, stable state while delaying cancer progression.

Platinum drugs, like cisplatin and carboplatin, are standard-of-care first-line therapy for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). They are dropped from the regimen during maintenance therapy, due to severe toxicity.

An ongoing administration of a component from the initial therapy is called continuation maintenance therapy. Typically, the maintenance component can be

Drugs used in continuation maintenance therapy of various lung cancer subtypes

	Chemotherapeutic agents	Immunotherapeutic agents	Targeted agents
Lung adenocarcinoma, large cells and others	Pemetrexed Gemcitabine	Pembrolizumab Nivolumab + Ipilimumab Atezolizumab Cemiplimab Durvalumab	Bevacizumab
Squamous cell carcinoma	Gemcitabine	Pembrolizumab Nivolumab + Ipilimumab Cemiplimab Durvalumab Atezolizumab

Sometimes your doctor may prescribe a customized combination of medication. For example, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the combination of bevacizumab with pemetrexed or paclitaxel as maintenance therapy for advanced non-squamous NSCLC.

If you have experienced adverse effects during induction therapy, a drug with a different mode of action may be prescribed in the maintenance therapy. This is the switch maintenance therapy.

Cancer progression

In the case of progressed patients, the treatment strategy includes reintroducing drugs from induction treatment or another drug that does not share cross-resistance with previous treatments. The maintenance therapy is then continued until either the disease shows signs of progression or when treatment-related toxicity necessitates the discontinuation of treatment.

Brand names of cancer drugs

To help you recognize the drugs mentioned in this article, we have listed them below with their brand names:

Abraxane® (albumin-bound paclitaxel)
Alimta® (pemetrexed)
Avastin® (bevacizumab)
Gemzar® (gemcitabine)
IMFINZI® (durvalumab)
Keytruda® (pembrolizumab)
LIBTAYO® (cemiplimab)
Navelbine® (vinorelbine)
Opdivo® (nivolumab)
Paraplatin® (carboplatin)
Platinol® (cisplatin)
Taxol® (paclitaxel)
Taxotere® (docetaxel)
Tecentriq® (atezolizumab)
VePesid® or Etopophos® (etoposide)
Yervoy® (ipilimumab)

Like any other cancer therapy, maintenance therapy is personalized and tailored to each patient's medical condition. It ensures the approach is customized to meet their needs and optimize treatment outcomes while minimizing toxicities.