Erlotinib for European Patients with Advanced Lung Cancer

Patients with tumors expressing EGFR mutations achieved longer progression-free survival with erlotinib than with chemotherapy.

A prior phase III study from China demonstrated that previously untreated patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation-positive non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) achieved significantly longer progression-free survival (PFS) with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) erlotinib than with standard chemotherapy (JW Oncol Hematol Sep 20 2011).

To test whether these benefits apply to other populations, investigators conducted an industry-funded, multicenter, open-label, randomized, phase III trial involving 174 European adults with metastatic NSCLC and EGFR TK mutations (exon 19 and 21). Patients received first-line treatment with erlotinib (150 mg daily until disease progression) or up to four 3-week cycles of standard intravenou…

Reviewing Author

Ramaswamy Govindan, MD