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News
For patients with advanced squamous lung cancer who've already tried immunotherapy, options have been slim for a decade — but that may be changing. Updated data from the PRESERVE-003 trial show that gotistobart, a next-generation CTLA-4 antibody, nearly doubled median overall survival compared to standard chemotherapy. Experts are cautiously optimistic, though they stress the need for proactive toxicity management and broader genomic testing.
For patients with advanced squamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who've progressed after immunotherapy and platinum chemotherapy, the treatment landscape has barely budged in a decade — docetaxel (with or without ramucirumab) remains the go-to, with median overall survival hovering around 10–11 months. But updated data from the phase 3 PRESERVE-003 trial, presented at WCLC 2026, are generating real interest around gotistobart, a re-engineered CTLA-4–targeting antibody designed to preserve efficacy while reducing the toxicity that plagued earlier agents like ipilimumab.
In the squamous NSCLC subgroup of PRESERVE-003's Stage 1, gotistobart delivered a median overall survival of 18.5 months vs. 10.0 months with docetaxel — a notable difference in a disease where gains have been elusive. Experts caution that this was a small, non-pivotal analysis (87 patients), and Stage 2 — with OS as the primary endpoint — will be the real test.
By the Numbers:
Why it matters: Squamous NSCLC has long lagged behind nonsquamous disease in treatment advances. If Stage 2 confirms these results, gotistobart could become the first meaningful new option in this space in years — but oncologists will need to get comfortable managing CTLA-4–related immune toxicities proactively.
