Lung cancer is the second most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Different targeted therapies and the introduction of immunotherapy have successfully improved outcome for patients with non-small lung cancer (NSCLC). Anti-angiogenic drugs are an essential component in the treatment of NSCLC patients. The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A antibody bevacizumab is approved for first-line treatment of advanced-stage patients in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy. Ramucirumab, a VEGF receptor antibody, and nintedanib, an anti-angiogenic multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitor, are approved for second-line treatment in combination with docetaxel. This review provides a summary of pivotal trials with anti-angiogenic drugs in NSCLC in different settings. We give an overview of how to position anti-angiogenic therapy in the current treatment algorithms and highlight future directions. The identification of predictive biomarkers for patient selection could improve the success of anti-angiogenic drugs and represents an important area of research. In addition, novel therapeutic targets including endothelial metabolomic intermediates and cellular components of the tumor microenvironment could lead to the identification of innovative new targets besides the VEGF axis.
